


Monster

by KurakiChan



Series: Monsters Rise [1]
Category: Supernatural, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Foreign Language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-27
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-02-04 18:38:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18610237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KurakiChan/pseuds/KurakiChan
Summary: The last daughter of the Vasiles and the last Vasile to walk the Earth forever by the side of her sire and best friend no matter how many times she tries to get away. She first came to Mystic Falls fleeing from Romania and watched her best friend die and turn. She returned once and became the monster herself. This time she's not playing around. She will not bow to the Mikaelsons. She will discover the truth to her own family. She will reign above them all. (covers seasons 3 & 4 of TVD with some crossovers beginning to Supernatural)





	1. Are You Ready for the Monster?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, all! I have finally joined here and I am regularly on FanFiction.net under the same penname~  
> This entire portion of the series is complete, it has its own sequel, and a companion that currently has two parts and will also be posted here!  
> Monster centers around TVD and the companion called Rise is based around SPN but I have a found a way to connect them.  
> Welcome to the insanity~
> 
> xoxo  
> KurakiChan

01: Are You Ready For the Monster? 

 

“Can we not do this right now? I'm having a really bad night.” Damon sighed, walking upstairs.

“All summer, every single time I came to you with a lead, you made me feel like an idiot for having hope.” Elena shook her head, following him. “Tell me what you know, Damon. We're supposed to be in this together. Why didn't you tell me that you've been tracking Klaus' victims?”

At the top of the stairs near his bedroom door he snapped. “Because they're not Klaus's victims, Elena, they're Stefan's!”

She shrank back. “Wh-what?”

His hand was on the doorknob. “He's left a trail of body parts up and down the eastern seaboard.”

“No,” she denied. “You’re wrong.”

“He’s actually not, _pizdă_.”

They froze in their tracks. Damon stood protectively in front of Elena, immediately recognizing the woman from behind. She stood in his room with all his information on Stefan from his closet. Her long, dark hair reached halfway down her back and was tinted with some red. She wore black jeggings that hugged her legs and curves, sharp heels, and a deep red blouse. Damon had to compose himself; somehow each time he saw her she became more attractive. He also knew the meaning to the Romanian slur she spat at Elena. He had to force himself not to laugh at her vulgarity.

She turned and his jaw tightened. Even Elena’s knees buckled a little. Her skin was like porcelain, pale and flawless without so much of a freckle or scar. Lashes so long they touched her perfectly shaped eyebrows and eyes the most vibrant shade of green, caked with thick, black eyeliner. Dark maroon matte lipstick highlighted her lips that pulled into a smirk. Long, black nails tapped on the papers tauntingly. “I've seen it happen before. He's flipped the switch. Full-blown ripper.” She shrugged. “Stefan is gone and he's not coming back. Not in your lifetime, _pizdă._ ”

“Who the hell are you?” Elena asked bravely although her voice shook and she clung to the back of Damon’s shirt.

“What are you doing here?” Damon asked almost as breathlessly. She’d been staring right at him.

“You know her?” The brunette whisper-yelled at him.

Her eyes wafted over to Elena. She looked the girl up and down, disgust growing on her countenance. “And clearly his poor judgement hasn’t changed. I arrived in time then.” She snickered and licked her lips.

“Shouldn’t you be parading around as a good little girl with some poor human suckers?” He teased her, still shielding Elena.

She shrugged and looked at her nails. “I was. Nice people too. I had a boyfriend and a best friend, a nice flat, steady job. A quiet, human life.”

“Had?” Elena squeaked.

“Keep up _pizdă,_ I ate them.” She grinned, flashing white fangs.

“Way to jump back off the wagon,” Damon chuckled. “You were doing so well with your little facade. Told you it wouldn’t last. What’s the matter, just not as satisfying or fun as I am?”

She laughed a little, something in her eyes making Elena want to run back downstairs.

 

* * *

 

[Flashback]

 

“How was work?” A dark haired young man pecked her on the cheek.

 

She sighed and dropped onto the couch, kicking off her shoes. “Miserable. I was on the brink of tearing out my coworker’s throat if she didn’t shut her pie hole.”

 

He laughed and started rubbing her feet. On the loveseat beside them a blonde girl scrunched up her face. “You’re always so morbid and violent, Nicki.”

 

The male to her side chuckled. “Maybe one day she’ll finally snap and actually do something.”

 

The blonde smacked him. “Don’t say things like that!”

 

She - Nicki - laughed darkly. “I’m waiting for the day I do snap, truthfully. I’ve had a good streak so far.”

 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Her beau asked.

 

“I have snapped before. A few times, really. A lot of people got hurt because of it.”

 

“I don’t believe that,” the blonde shook her head.

 

“I do,” her boyfriend scoffed. Something always seemed off about Nicki to him.

 

“What happened?” Nicki’s boyfriend asked, rubbing her feet slower. He’d never heard of that side of his girlfriend.

 

“A friend of mine got in my head. He liked to live life to the fullest and to hell with who got hurt. We’d been friends for quite some time so I joined him in his idea of ‘fun’. We ended up playing against each other because of some other dumb bitch who kept recurring in his life.”

 

“He sounds like a dick.” Her eye twitched as she stared up at the living room ceiling. “You don’t talk to him anymore, do you?”

 

“I haven’t in some time, no.”

 

“But if he came around again you would, wouldn’t you?” When she didn’t answer he kept going. “You’ve got a lot going for you right now, Nicki. You don’t need that asshole messing with your head.”

 

“He never messed with my head, Zane,” she spat at him. “I said he _got in_ my head. Meaning the issues and ideology was already there. He just convinced me to stop clinging to something I’m not.”

 

“Like what you’re playing at being here with us?”

 

Nicki sat up slowly, eyeing her blonde friend’s beau predatorily. “What’s that supposed to mean, Jagger?”

 

“Jag, leave her alone,” Zane argued.

 

“Ask her, man,” Jagger argued, holding his girlfriend protectively close. “I bet you don’t know a damn thing about this guy or her life before she came here.”

 

“Of course I know about her life,” he fought back. “She grew up in a small town in the south with some family friends because her dad left and her mom got sick and died.”

 

“And you heard that from her telling you, right?” Zane was quiet. “That’s my point! No childhood pictures or memorabilia, no paperwork, no details, no proof of who Nicki Vaine even is. You know she doesn’t come up when you search her name on the internet?”

 

“It’s been almost a year, man. Why are you bothering with this?”

 

“Because he’s right,” she spoke suddenly, standing to her feet in front of them. “You won’t find a Nicki or Nicole Vaine on the internet because she doesn’t exist.”

 

The blonde gasped. “Are you like witness protection or something?”

 

She shook her head. “You’re going to wish I was. Nicki Vaine is a name I came up with myself. Please, call me Nova.”

 

“Nova…?” Zane breathed.

 

“Nova Vasile,” she continued. “However, I’m a different kind of monster. I’m unlike the three of you. I was born in August of 1841.” Their eyes widened, breaths catching in their throats. “I’m a vampire. I have been since 1866 when I was turned by that friend of mine. And yes,” she looked down at Zane who gaped up at her, “he is a dick. I’m bad, Zane. I do things; I kill people. It’s in my nature, it’s who I am.”

 

“You’re lying,” he breathed, sinking into the couch beneath her gaze.

 

She sauntered over to the front door near them and locked it. The three began to sweat. “I tried so hard to make this right, I really did. The three of you have been wonderful. Yes, Jagger, even with your constant accusations because in reality,” she looked at him with a sick smile, “you were right.”

 

“Why are you telling us this?” His voice shook as he held tightly to the blonde in his lap.

 

“I thought it might comfort you in your death.”

 

“You don’t have to do this, Nicki!” Zane jumped to his feet. “Nova,” he shook his head. “Whatever your name is! You’re a good person! Why don’t you let people see that? You can coexist!”

 

“When people see good they expect good,” she told him sadly. “And I don’t want to have to live up to anyone’s expectations which is exactly what I’d have to do with you three. There’s nothing human left in me, Zane. No good, no kindness, no love. I’m a monster. I’m almost sorry.”

 

They watched, frozen in horror, as her face began to change. Dark veins appeared beneath her eyes. The whites of her eyes turned black, illuminating her emerald irises. Her natural fangs extended below her bottom lip that curled into a twisted grin. She moved so fast, grabbing Jagger first. His girlfriend leaped out of his lap and ran through the house. Zane watched, completely mortified, as Nova tore into his throat and dropped him when his heart stopped pumping blood. He turned and ran after the blonde.

 

She zoomed by him with her speed. By time he found the blonde Nova had already let her drop to the floor as well. “Please,” he begged, falling to his knees. She ignored him.

 

* * *

[Present]

 

“They didn’t deserve that!” Elena shouted at her. Damon had to hold the brunette back.

“She just told you she slaughtered three people in under two minutes and you want to go yelling at her?” He scolded her. “For fuck’s sake she keeps calling you a cunt in Romanian.” Elena blushed and Nova laughed.

“It’s my native tongue, sweetheart,” she told the brunette, sitting on Damon’s bed.

“So you weren’t born in Mystic Falls?”

Nova shook her head and waved her hand, inviting them in to talk with her. Hesitantly Elena slipped by Damon to sit in the desk chair. He sighed and leaned against a wall. “I was born in Bucharest in 1841. I came to Mystic Falls on a boat in 1860 and stayed with the Salvatores.”

“So you two have known each other a long time,” she mused. “What about your parents?”

Her eye twitched. Damon sighed. “Even in all this time I haven’t been able to get her to talk about them. What she just told you is the extent of what I know.”

Nova looked out the window pensively. “They were bad people, I can tell you that much. Bad people with power. I left on my own and stowed away on a ship.”

The longer Elena stared at her, the more regal she seemed. Her posture was straight, legs crossed over the knees with her hands folded on top, not a hair out of place. She wondered if the girl came from royalty or if her parents were just that strict.

“If you keep staring at me I will remove your eyeballs and put them in a jar of formaldehyde.”

She jumped in her seat and fiddled with the hem of her white dress. “Sorry,” she muttered. “It’s just...the way you sit. You have even better posture than Miss Mystic Falls contestants.”

“Congratulations on not being blind. Yet.” Her green eyes darted to Elena coldly. “I suggest either getting over your boyfriend or joining the party. He’s a Ripper, kid. And he’s BFFs with the Original hybrid.”

“You know about that?” Damon asked warily.

She nodded. “Of course I know about that, _bou_.” She rolled her eyes. “I know everything that’s happened in this miserable excuse of a town.”

“Speaking of which, last time I checked, you vowed to never step foot back into this ‘miserable excuse of a town’,” he smirked. “Eat your roomies and change your mind?”

Nova smirked which made Elena’s skin crawl. “All the fun seems to happen down here. Thought I might entertain myself and play since it’s good enough for my best friend. Besides, I’ve also got to keep you in line from Bulgarian _curva_.” She sneered at Elena with disgust.

The brunette sweatdropped. _At least it’s not the other Romanian word…_

“Let me guess,” she sighed, “you’ve got beef with Katherine?”

She smiled and leaned forward with her elbow on her knee and chin in her palm. “Oh I hate you just as much, don’t even consider otherwise. Truthfully I’d love nothing more than to take Damon the hell out of this pitiful town but I can’t do that right now because of your pathetic ass always being the damsel in distress. It’s taking a lot for me to not come over there and rip your throat out with my teeth.” Her smile never faltered.

Damon snickered as Elena’s jaw dropped and she started to shake. “So that’s what this is about. I knew you couldn’t stay away from me.”

“And yet here you are, fawning all over the same face again,” she smiled up at him. His smirk vanished. “You’re never going to get of me, Damon. Not truly.”

“I’ve realized that by now with each time you come back from the dead and follow me to the end of the Earth. What are you really doing here, Nova?”

“You know, I recall people asking the same of you not long ago. Must have sucked when you realized I was right and Katherine screwed you again.” She smirked.

“Must have sucked when you realized I was right and you’re not so high and mighty that you can coexist with humanity.”

In a flash she had him by the throat against the wall. Elena jumped to her feet frightfully. “Maybe you are right,” she mused in his face. “Maybe I’ve finally come to my senses. But I’ll be damned if I let you sit here at some doppelganger’s feet. I’d sooner drag both of us to Romania.” She released him so he could breathe. “Take your pick, Damon - the doppelganger in distress or the SuperNova with answers to baffle you.”

“You say that like you’d actually tell me the answers I’ve been looking for for over a century.”

“I would. And if you don’t believe me then here’s a sign of good faith: I was born into royalty in Bucharest.”


	2. I'm a Worthless Human Being.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashbacks to Nova's abusive childhood and her bold interaction with Klaus Mikaelson~

02: I’m a Worthless Human Being. 

 

[Romania, 1858]

 

“Mama, what is all of this…?”

 

Young Nova stared wide eyed at the secret basement her mother had brought to. The older dark haired woman placed a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, hair shadowing her face. “You are our only heir, Nova. We must ensure your survival if you are going to be so stubborn and free willed.”

 

She took a step back, yanked forward by her mother’s harsh grip on her. Her eyes widened, filling with fear. “Mama…?” She whimpered. “Mama you’re hurting me!” Blood whipped across her face, splashing against her pale cheek. She screamed when she saw a man mutilated by her father.

 

“We are going to make you strong, Nova,” he told her with a disturbed smile. “Make your blood strong. You will take our place as leader of a great clan.”

 

“What you do is sick!” She shouted at her parents. “You do not take care of your people, you slaughter them for fun! You experiment on the poor! You are mad!”

 

“It was all for you, _dragă_.” Her mother told her, gently stroking her face. Her dark green eyes were filled with an inexplicable hunger that made Nova shake. “We needed to get everything just right.” She nodded to her husband.

 

Nova screamed when her father grabbed her. She couldn’t free herself from his newfound strength. He put her on a cold metal table, strapping her down tightly. “You will be magnificent, Nova.”

 

“I would rather live my life as a vampire for the remainder of the eternity!” She cried out.

 

He pet her face, smiling creepily above her. “You will be something even better than vampires, _dragă_.”

 

She gasped, tears falling from her eyes. “You tested on them too…” She whimpered.

 

He nodded and went over to a table full of potions of medical equipment. “We are going to make you the strongest, Nova. All other creatures will bow to your feet.”

 

“I don’t want that!” She cried, thrashing against the leather restraints.

 

“What you do want is pathetic!” He shouted, slapping her across the face. “Your ideologies of peace are worthless. Grow up, child. We live amongst the supernatural. You are a worthless human being so we are going to make you something useful. We will show you your true nature.”

 

Nova’s wails went unheard as her parents began poking her with various needles, injecting her with serums and taking her blood.

 

 

* * *

 

[Present]

 

“You’re like a mold you just can’t get rid of,” Nova sneered as she descended the stairs and saw Elena barge in.

She looked up at the ravenette (albeit a little apprehensively). “You’re staying here,” she stated, at a small loss for words.

The ravenette chuckled. “Good comeback. Yes, _pizdă,_ I am staying here. The Salvatores have always been extremely hospitable to me.” She smirked.

“Says the girl that stole the blankets,” came Damon down the stairs. He looked to Elena with slight disdain. “Just can’t stay away, can you?”

“You’ve been dodging my calls,” Elena told him.

“Yeah, well, I’ve been ‘hospitable’ I guess,” he snickered. “You don’t understand just what a pain in the ass Nova is and what happens if she isn’t given the attention she thinks she deserves.”

“Stefan called me last night,” she blurted to change the topic.

“Yeah?” Nova purred tauntingly. “What’d he say?”

Elena bit the inside of her cheek. “He didn't say anything, but it was him. I asked Sheriff Forbes if she would trace the call's origin. It came from Tennessee.”

“Where he's binge drinking on the country folk.” Damon told her. “We went through this, Elena. Stefan's gone. I don't mean geographically.”

“If he was gone, he wouldn’t have called.”

“Unless he just wanted to watch you rip your hair out while you drive yourself mad and he has fun tearing the heads off people,” Nova smirked. “Or maybe you just have a creepy stalker in Tennessee. You know, the ones that breathe heavily into the phone.” She snickered.

“You don’t know Stefan like I do.”

“No, I know the real Stefan Salvatore that you denies exists. You’ve never had to rip him off of your comrade’s throat before she could die!” Damon grabbed her, holding her back before she could grab at Elena. “I tried to save him once too like a fool. If not for Damon he would have ended my life long ago.”

“What do you mean…?”

“Nova and Stefan had kind of a backhanded friendship when they were human,” Damon explained quietly, rubbing the ravenette’s arms. “She stayed by our sides after we were turned.”

“He wasn’t going to,” Nova told her bitterly. “He was going to die. I didn’t agree but I wasn’t going to push him. Stefan did. So to lighten the blow I offered my blood. I didn’t like the way Stefan’s attitude had changed. I stayed with Damon. He didn’t like that and pushed me into water he knew I couldn’t swim in.”

“She had my blood in her system because he’d attacked her not a day prior,” he admitted. “He wanted me to choose him over her.”

Elena looked between the two of them several times. “But you didn’t... in the end you still chose Nova.”

Nova scoffed and poured herself a glass of whiskey. “Alright you’re dumb enough for a story. Once upon a time there was a barely innocent little Romanian immigrant girl. Shit went south in the southern town she was in because of vampires that she already knew existed back in Romania. Girl loses the only two people in her life - brothers - she really closely knew to being vampires. Girl grows a pair and stays because they needed her the most. One brother flips the switch and drowns the little immigrant girl which sends the other brother into a spiral. He dives in after her and pulls her out but she’s not breathing.  
“Little brother realizes what he’s done and runs. Big brother is _pissed_ . Girl wakes up and forces herself to cling to her humanity out of fear. She distracts herself by watching over the big brother who’s gone and gotten himself into a disaster. She stands by him trying to be human still until little brother comes back with the switch just as flipped. Little brother didn’t think she’d be a vampire. He freaks out and drowns her _again_ thinking she’s human. That time when the big brother pulled her out and she gasped for air she knew what she was. He knew what she was.  
“For many years to come she remained by the big brother’s side twice as crazy as he was. They were the king and queen of the underground. They didn’t care who got in their way because they were stronger than anyone who dared step up. Whatever they want they got. Then she found out he had been searching for the Bulgarian _curva_ and she started to spiral. She remembered things she had long since forgotten. Things from even before she came to America. She fled and retreated, pretending to be something she wasn’t until the monster in her came back for another round.”

Nova stared off into the amber liquid in her cup. Her emerald eyes were distant and vacant, haunted by something in her past. She saw her comrade’s eyes in the amber, the girl’s smile flashing in her memory. It was the only person she’d ever truly opened to. The only person who knew everything she’d been through. Part of her couldn’t help but wonder... 

 

 

* * *

 

Nova laughed hysterically when Elena fell into the water. Somehow she felt like she was getting some kind of vindication. “You sold me out!” She yelled to Alaric.

“You think I'd take you to a mountain range of werewolves on a full moon without backup?” He retorted.

“What's your big plan, Elena? Huh?” Damon questioned. “You gonna walk through a campsite full of werewolves, roast a marshmallow, and wait for Stefan to stop by?”

“Realistically I’m your best bet in all of this,” Nova mused, looking at her nails.

“Neither of you are!” The brunette argued. “One bite from a werewolf and without Klaus’ blood you die!”

The ravenette shook her head. “Not me.” There was a disgusted sorrow in her tone. “For more reasons than one that don’t pertain to you.”

  


* * *

 

 

[Flashback; Romania, 1858]

 

It had been days. She wasn’t sure how many but she knew it had been several days. She was panting, her throat dry and lips cracking. Her gown was in tatters and hair all over the place. “Please,” she begged, laying on the cold floor, “let me die…”

 

Her father shook his head and tapped another needle. “We are so close, _dragă._ You are immune to vervain and wolfsbane so far. Today we will make you immune to wolf venom.”

 

“Please, _tată,_ I beg you to stop...I’ll do anything…”

 

“We have already begun, _dragă._ There is no stopping now.” He bent down, needle in hand. “We are going to try this and then I will get you a drink okay?”

 

Groggily she lolled her head in a nod. She couldn’t even feel the needle in her arm anymore. She sobbed as her father brought a cup to her lips; it was tea but she knew there was blood tainting it. She just couldn’t tell if it was human or vampire.

 

* * *

 

[Present]

 

Nova couldn’t deal with Elena’s bitching so she went on ahead. She’d dealt with wolves countless times in her life. She had a small shred of hope. Coming closer to the campsite she found several dead (in transition) wolves and one massive, golden looking wolf baring its teeth at two men. She recognized Stefan and it didn’t take a genius to figure out it was Klaus at his side. She stared at the golden wolf and smiled, cracking her knuckles.

Damon cursed under his breath when he saw his raven haired companion bound through the trees into battle. She was going to challenge Klaus for kicks. He saw the gold wolf and stopped in his tracks. No, _that’s_ why she was challenging Klaus. _A mea._

“ _Câine!_ ” Nova screamed, jumping out of the trees and tackling Klaus. The wolf moved immediately, jumping on Stefan. Both beasts snarled wildly at the vampires (and technical hybrid) they held down.

“What the-” Elena started. Damon quickly grabbed her mouth.

“Please, for the love of God, shut your mouth Elena. Your boyfriend is a Ripper right now standing by the side of the Original hybrid with a girl who’s nickname is SuperNova for reasons a lot more horrifying than you think that hates you and a giant wolf who happens to be her best friend through the ages and their lives are linked together.”

Elena’s face paled and she watched quietly. Nova and the wolf stood toe to toe with Stefan and Klaus. Nova seemed to have the time of her life.

“I’ve heard about you,” Klaus told her as he stood from the dirt. “You’re the little girl they call SuperNova.” He chuckled. “Let’s see what’s so bloody super about you.”

Nova cracked her neck as Klaus’ face changed. Stefan looked purely mortified, almost shaking in his boots as her face changed. He’d seen it many times before, the veins beneath her eyes as the whites turned dark and her fangs extended like a normal vampire, but as she stood before Klaus her eyes seemed to glow. He could feel the monstrous strength and power radiating off of her. The wolf snarled at his feet and he jumped back. “Lethia,” he breathed. He could almost see the wolf smirk.

Elena looked up at Damon in time to see admiration in his eyes as he stared at Nova. She followed his gaze to find the girl having leaped into the air. She grabbed Klaus’ shoulders and flipped over him, forcing him to flip over her body. The ravenette flung him harshly face down in the dirt. Elena winced but Damon still stared with great fondness. He looked at her even greater than he had Katherine.

Klaus had gotten pissed instantly. They danced around one another, landing various blows. Nova backflipped over Stefan and the wolf (Lethia) going for blows themselves as Stefan tried desperately to not get bit by the wolf. He looked up at she twisted above him through the setting sun. He knew she was strong but he never knew how strong she truly was and how much of a fighter she really was.

Her boots skidded through the dirt and she snarled with a grin. Stefan had been so busy watching her stick her landing that Lethia got a chunk of his skin, the wolf venom making its way quickly through him. Lethia reared back on her hind legs and head butted Stefan into Klaus. Nova jumped in and landed a few more kicks and punches on both of them before throwing them each into trees. She whirled around and made eye contact with Damon, grinning big.

Her long hair spun in the wind around her, almost floating. Blood splattered across her cheeks and her emerald eyes beamed with life. To say the least, Damon was captivated. She gave him a small wave, the same small wave each of them did when they were off to do something stupid. He wanted nothing more than to run out to her, to catch her before she did the stupid thing, but he had to protect Elena. Klaus thought she was dead. Elena didn’t miss the longing in his eyes as he stared at Nova.

She front flipped that time, landing on the wolf. Elena couldn’t believe the wolf really was that big. Nova took off, flipping off Klaus on the way, on the wolf into the woods. Klaus growled and snatched up Stefan, demanding that they find the two girls.

Nova looked to the sky; the sun was nearly set and the full moon slowly rising. She cursed in Romanian under her breath. She could still hear all of them in the woods - Klaus, Stefan, Alaric, Elena, Damon. She could hear them running around like crazy. One of Klaus’ failed (as he’ll soon learn) hybrids had caught up to Team Not Klaus. She leaned down and muttered something to the wolf in Romanian. She nodded and they reared back a bit, taking a sharp right.

She could hear the hybrid, Ray. They leaped off a small cliff down the hillside onto the hybrid. “ _Ucide,_ ” Nova commanded the wolf. Without hesitation Lethia tore into Ray’s throat, knocking off his head. The ravenette looked to the trio with more blood having splattered on her. “You need to get out of here. We’ll deter Klaus and Stefan.”

“We need to save Stefan!” Elena argued.

Nova’s jaw tightened, lips in a straight line. Her and Elena stared hard at one another for a long minute. Something clicked in her; someone was asking for her help because she had the power to. She wouldn’t be the leader her parents wanted her to be. If they wanted her to lead so badly then she would do so how she wanted to. “Alright,” she said at last, nodding. “I’ll try my best under the condition that you get the living fuck out of these woods. Those failed hybrids are gonna wake up soon.”

Damon and Alaric were stunned. Elena’s eyes beamed and she nodded furiously. She put faith in the ravenette, staring up at her like she was a warrior queen going into battle. “Consider us gone!”

“Are you-” Damon started. “What, no!” He shook his head. “Alaric, you get Elena out of here. I’m not leaving Nova.” He jumped when her hand shot down at him. He stared up at her with confusion as her hand was held out to him and not meant to hit him.

Nova smiled, still holding her hand out to him. “I would love for you to fight by my side again. Just don’t puss out.” She winked.

“I didn’t think it was gonna be that easy...okay,” he shook his head and took her hand. She pulled him up right behind her. Sometimes he forgot she was twice as strong as he was.

 

Klaus was seething. He grabbed Stefan by the throat and shoved him against a tree. “First you can’t detatch yourself from that girl and your miserable hometown and now you know a giant golden wolf and her sidekick the bloody SuperNova?!”

Stefan groaned. “Damon and I knew her when we were all still human. She came to us in 1860 for refuge. I’ve only heard rumors of the wolf being her long time friend Lethia. I didn’t know it was true!”

“It is!” He shoved Stefan again. “Do you know the things those girls have done? The tragedies they’ve seen? They are relentless. Almost worse than me. Tell me, Stefan, do you at least know where little Nova hails from?”

He shook his head. “All I know is that she’s from Romania and it was bad enough for her to come to America.” _Damon was the one who helped her clean up her English…_

“She is a Vasile,” the hybrid snarled in venomously in his face. “They were dark royalty in Romania for centuries!”

“Yeah, well, I ended that.” Nova stared down at Klaus, knowing Damon’s eyes were on his brother. “My parents were tyrannical beasts solely out for power. I made sure I let them down in every way possible.” She smirked.

“Come back for round two little Vasile?” Klaus taunted. “Why don’t you jump down off your wolf friend and away from your knight so we can go for round two?”

“I certainly would love to blow some steam by knocking you around the Smoky Mountains but I haven’t got time for that. I gave someone my assurance that Stefan would be coming with me.”

“Be a good little queen and barter for him,” he smirked. He didn’t miss the way her lip curled when he called her a queen.

Damon could feel her tense at the queen comment. So she was Romanian royalty; did that mean she was a queen to be to some awful lineage? He held tightly to her. “Don’t listen to him.”

“He’s right though,” she never took her eyes off the hybrid. “It’s only fair to sit down and meet and barter like civil leaders.”

“You are not standing down there alone with Klaus Mikaelson,” he hissed protectively.

She didn’t turn and face him; she only grabbed his hand on her thigh. “I need you to trust and have faith in me right now, _iubițel_.”

Damon frowned and released his grip on her. He couldn’t say no when she spoke to him in her native tongue the same way she couldn’t when he spoke Italian to her. She swung her leg over and he grabbed her close one last time before she leaped down. “ _Stai attentissimo, dolcezza,_ ” he whispered in her ear, nuzzling her hair.

  
She smiled softly and touched his face, kissing his cheek. “ _Nu te teme, iubițel_.”


	3. This is a Wild Game of Survival.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look into Damon and Nova's past & her new deal with Klaus~

03: This is a Wild Game of Survival.

 

Nova took a breath when her feet hit the ground. She stood tall and walked regally over to Klaus. She got flashes to her childhood. She could almost feel her tiara on her head again, her cloak and gown dragging on the floor behind her. As she stared up at him she could feel the predator; the way he eyed her hungrily. He offered to take a small walk with her where a log was down near the river so they could sit. She turned and looked over her shoulder, nodding first quickly at Lethia and offering Damon a small smile.

“I hadn’t heard the Vasile name in ages,” Klaus commented as they neared the area. “I’d believed they’d all died.”

“They did,” she told him darkly. “I killed them myself.” She sat at one end of the log, staring out at the water.

“Took a page out of your sire’s book then.”

“I was going to eventually in my life whether I was turned or not. That just happened to be a helpful accident.”

“Tell me, luv, how did that come to be anyways? What was so horrible that they did to make you flee to America? I assume it has something to do with why you’re such a magnificent vampire.”

Her eyes never left the water. “I’m not exactly sure what they did,” she half lied. “They didn’t deserve the territory they ruled, the power they were given. They abused it and tried to make me become something I’m not. So I stowed away on a ship I knew was headed to the Americas and got off at the first stop which happened to be Mystic Falls. I was nineteen.”

He smirked and chuckled. “You’re a brave little thing. Stefan managed to tell me that you sought refuge with their family.”

She nodded, nearly smiling at the memory that surfaced. “Damon had found me stumbling off the ship.”

 

* * *

 

[Flashback; Mystic Falls, 1860]

 

Nova practically fell off of the boat, still trying her best to remain hidden. She leaned against a stack of heavy crates with a hand over her chest. She’d never been on a boat before; clearly she was not equipped to. She thought she had gathered herself and took a step forward, immediately realizing she was not good. Nausea hit her like a brick and she dove to the side of the pier to throw up. In the midst of her heaves she heard someone laugh and pull her hair back.

 

“Someone clearly does not have their sea legs,” a young man teased her.

 

She groaned and sat on the edge of the pier wiping her mouth with a black handkerchief from her sleeve. She noticed him sit beside her and looked at him from the corner of her eyes. She immediately had to look the other way. “No, sir, I cannot say that I do.”

 

He leaned close to her with a big smile, causing her to jump. “You have a very thick accent; is it Romanian?” A hand flew to her mouth, emerald eyes wide. He laughed. “No, no, please don’t be embarrassed! I really like your accent. I think it’s almost as beautiful as your eyes.”

 

In the depths of her mind, Nova was swooning uncontrollably. She’d only ever heard awful things about the Americas but her first step on their land and a handsome young man was already helping her and making her blush. She kept her hand over her mouth, trying to hide the blush and smile. “You are too sweet to an immigrant girl you do not know.”

 

He still smiled and rubbed the back of his neck before cursing himself and holding his hand out to her. “How rude of me! Name’s Damon, Damon Salvatore. Welcome to Mystic Falls.”

 

Hesitantly she moved her hand from her face to shake his hand. She nearly fell in the water when he gently kissed the back of her hand. She had to mentally scream at herself to remain composed. She started to stutter. “O-oh, I-I- my name is Nova,” she avoided eye contact; he still hadn’t let go of her hand. “Nova Vasile. And yes,” she smiled softly, “I am here from Romania.”

 

Damon adored the way the blue water reflected off of her green eyes. Her hand was so small and pale in his. “Have you come here to stay with family? I haven’t heard of your family in town before.”

 

Her expression saddened. “No, actually... I-I snuck onto that ship to escape Romania…” She was surprised when she heard him laugh but the sound made her smile softly.

 

“Brilliant!” He complimented her. “Whatever happened to you in Romania is in the past now, okay?” She looked up at him, mesmerized by his ice blue eyes and dashing smile. “Your home is here in Mystic Falls. You can stay with my family! We could use a woman’s influence around the house since my mother passed a couple of years ago.”

 

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that…”

 

He kissed her hand again and she nearly fainted into the water. “Do not be, Nova. Come,” he stood, pulling her to her feet. “I promise you will feel right at home.”

 

* * *

 

 

[Present]

 

“Giuseppe Salvatore took pity on me the second he saw me,” she shook her head. “Damon had tried to talk to him and he wouldn’t hear it until he saw this skinny little girl in a tattered black dress looking sicker than he last saw his wife on her deathbed. He immediately called for the town doctor to look me over, he sent Stefan and Damon to find me new gowns, made a massive dinner; he practically adopted me. Damon taught me how to read and write better English. It managed to impress Giuseppe.”

“You must know Katherine Pierce then. She blew through town in 1864 I believe?”

Nova nodded, spite in her eyes. “Yes she did. She ruined everything I started to build like a kid kicking down a block tower.” Klaus chuckled. “I knew what she was the moment I laid eyes on her. We had vampires in Romania and thanks to my family I knew a great deal about them. I’d heard about Katherine Pierce before;  _ Katerina Petrova. _ Bulgarian  _ curva _ ,” she spat.

“Sounds like you’ve got some personal animosity towards her,” he smirked, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

She licked her lips, flicking her tongue against her teeth. “She messed with the Vasile family a long time ago. I’m just the only one that wants retribution.”

Klaus nodded slowly and silence fell over them. “So you want Stefan back,” he finally spoke. “What for exactly?”

“He’s Damon’s brother,” she replied; still not a technical lie. “Damon is my best friend.” She looked at him with cut eyes when he started to snicker.

“Alright luv, say that’s the case. You have your reasons why. What are you willing to sacrifice to have him for your precious Damon?”

“What do you want for him?”  _ Gods this sounds awful, _ she thought.  _ Trading people like belongings… _ She mentally shook her head.

Klaus was quiet. Something that set Nova on edge. “Well,” he started, lips curving into a smirk, “you want to take my travel company away. I need someone in his place. I have a trip already planned you see. I need my plus one.” He looked down at her wolfishly.

Her lips pressed into a tight line as she looked up at him. This was not how she intended her return to Mystic Falls and Damon to be. She thought of Elena and the pleading look in her brown eyes for her lover back. She recalled feeling the same in 1953 about Damon. She never gave up on him just like Elena will never give up on Stefan. It wouldn’t be long; she could easily vanish whenever she pleased and deal with the consequences after. There was also the matter of Stefan’s wolf bite from Lethia; a bite that only  _ her _ blood could heal just as Klaus’ could regular wolf bites. 

With a heavy sigh she begrudgingly held her hand out to him. “I will stand in place of Stefan for you to release him back to Mystic Falls to Damon but you need to give me time to pack and make sure Stefan heals from Lethia’s bite. Only my blood can do that.”

Klaus smirked with arrogance and victory as he took her hand. “You’ve got yourself a deal, luv.”

 

* * *

 

“She is coming,” a woman with straight, blonde hair and hazel eyes assured Damon. “She knew all along what the outcome would be.”

Damon paced around the boarding house as Stefan groaned in pain on the couch with Elena at his side. After Nova had disappeared into the woods with Klaus her wolf snatched up Stefan with him and took off running until they met Elena and Alaric back home. “She’s with Klaus Mikaelson, Lethia!” Damon argued. “Who knows what kind of bargain her dumbass is going to make?”

Lethia put a hand comfortingly on his shoulder, staring him in the eyes. “My life is tied to hers, Damon. I know when she is in trouble and she is not. She will be here shortly to heal Stefan and settle everything. She knew she was getting Stefan home one way or another.”

“And I did.” Damon ran and hugged the ravenette in the doorway. She hugged him back with a small smile before heading to the younger brother. Elena jumped a little when Nova’s fangs popped out but her face didn’t change. Through Stefan’s fever and darkening vision he noticed it as well. She bit into her wrist and pressed it to his mouth. Within seconds Lethia’s bite that had spread venomously was gone. 

“Thank you, Nova,” Elena told her softly, starting to cry.

She nodded solemnly. “All I ask is that you two don’t make me regret it. That means some serious rehab, Stefan. I know what Klaus made you do.”

“What’s he making  _ you _ do?” Damon asked her with a hint of fear in his voice. He gently grabbed her shoulder, spinning her so she faced him. “What did you give up for Stefan?”

Nova sighed and took his hand, pulling him towards the stairs with a nod to Lethia. The blonde returned the nod and took a seat near Stefan and Elena on a chair. She closed the door behind them, leaning against it while he sat on the end of his bed. She bit her lip nervously. “Someone had to take Stefan’s place with Klaus in order for him to come home,” she told him.

“No,” he shook his head, immediately standing. “No,” he repeated, staring at her. 

“I don’t have a choice, Damon. I gave him my word just as I gave Elena my word that I’d get him home.”

“Since when do you give a shit about something for Elena or even Stefan? Let alone sacrificing yourself for them!”

“I didn’t do it for them,” she snapped, stepping forward. “I did it for you! Your brother and his girl that looks like the same bitch you fell for the first time. I came back to Mystic Falls at a terrible time, I get it. You’re working to protect Elena, your brother, and this town. I’ll be your martyr so you can have your fairy tale.”

He grabbed her face, pulling her close to him. “You’ve always been my fairy tale, Nova. My beautiful, happily tragedy ever after. I will not let you sacrifice yourself for people that don’t matter to you. I won’t let them be the cause of you leaving again, let alone to Klaus.”

“Damon,” she sighed, putting her hands on his. Tears welled in her eyes though she refused to let them spill. “That’s what a queen does - she sacrifices for her people. She keeps them happy and cared for.”

“I don’t give a damn,” he argued. “I don’t give a damn if you were meant to be a Vasile queen or whatever. I didn’t care about your past when I found you on the dock and it’s sure as hell not getting involved over a century later. You are not a queen. Not here. You’re only a queen to me.” She almost smiled. “You are not going wherever with Klaus Mikaelson. Please.”

She looked up at him, the tears nearly spilling at the pleading look in his eyes. He was genuinely begging her not to go. She opened her mouth to speak, but what could she possibly say?

“I am that selfish, Nova,” he told her. “I’m the selfish one. I can’t be what other people want me to be. What  _ she _ wants me to be. I’m not a hero and you’re the only one that knows that. And I’ll be damned if I just let you walk off into the lion’s den!”

She smiled sadly and leaned into him. “I don’t deserve you,” she muttered. “I promise I will come back to you, Damon. We don’t give up on family. Let me do this and I will make it home to you. Trust me, please, Damon.”

She could see how tight his jaw was set, the way his lip twitched. She opened her mouth to speak again and that time he kissed her. Her breath caught in her throat, emerald eyes wide as tears flowed helplessly down her pale cheeks. Slowly her eyes fluttered shut.   
  


* * *

 

 

[Flashback; Mystic Falls, 1863]

 

“It’s not fair!” Young Nova protested, eyes glistening with tears. “What does going to war even do, huh? It could get you killed! Let me talk to Giuseppe! Please, Damon!”

 

He laughed a little and swept her into his arms, smoothing down her long, onyx hair. He tilted her head up to look at him and wiped the tears from her face. “Not even you will change his mind,  _ dolcezza _ ,” he told her softly, smiling down at her. “I will be back before you know it. I promise.”

 

“You do not know that,” she sniffled. “You could be shot or taken prisoner or--”

 

“I see you’ve been talking to Stefan,” he laughed. “I have to do this, Nova. And I can do it. I will return home to you but you have to trust me, sweetheart. Can you do that? For me?”

 

Her bottom lip was jut out, twitching with her sorrow. She still didn’t fully understand the war between the North and South but Giuseppe had just volunteered Damon to the battlefield. She hated the way he made her swoon inside. Her heart ached at the thought of him being gone, let alone for how long. It could be weeks, months, years; she could get a letter saying he’d died in battle. It was honorable way to go, sure, but she wasn’t about to let Damon Salvatore die. Especially not for some dumb war.

 

He opened his mouth to speak, to try and soothe her worries again, when she threw herself at him. He could feel her warmth against his chest, her small arms wrapped around his neck. She kissed him with tears running down her cheeks. He realized her lips were as soft as he’d wondered. He pulled her close and kissed her back, smiling against her lips.


	4. Crippled by a Life So Tragic.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Klaus gets to know more of Nova's past while Lethia shares some of hers with Elena~

04: Crippled By a Life So Tragic.

 

It had been three hours into the drive in absolute silence when Klaus finally spoke. “I’m surprised you showed.”

Nova resisted the urge to roll her eyes and continued staring out the window. “Three hours of silence and that’s what you open with? We made a deal; I gave you my word. I was raised by animals but they were royal animals that taught me to be some kind of leader.”

“I would have figured Damon convinced you to stay and fight instead. You already had Stefan.”

“He did try,” she admitted quietly. “But in the end he trusts my judgement and that I can handle you.”

He chuckled. “I must admit that you can hold your own - even up against myself. How’d you get to be so strong, luv? You’re even younger than Damon and Stefan. Stefan’s even a Ripper. Where’s all that marvelous strength of yours come from?”

“My parents were determined to make and keep me strong,” she replied vaguely. “I was next in line for the throne and they didn’t want me to be fragile. They took it too far and that’s when I fled. Apparently becoming a vampire only made what they did amplified.” She shrugged.

“How’d you turn?”

She finally rolled her eyes. “What is this, 20 Questions?” She snapped.

“I knew Stefan very well, luv,” he smirked at her. “Just trying to get to know my new company.”

It was silent again between the two of them before Nova spoke. “Stefan had attacked me. I was losing a lot of blood. Damon gave me his and saved my life. Stefan came back twice as angry that Damon had saved me. I couldn’t swim and he pushed me into deep water before fighting with Damon to keep him from saving me again. He was so blinded by bloodlust and rage that he didn’t really realize I had Damon’s blood in my system still. Damon dove in after me and pulled me to the surface but I wasn’t breathing by that point. When I woke up I was in transition.”

“Did you complete transition willingly or by the request of Damon Salvatore?”

“Bit of both,” she admitted. “Damon originally hadn’t wanted to turn. I wanted him to because I couldn’t bear the thought of losing him but I wouldn’t make him do something he didn’t want to. I was just going to off myself after he was already gone. But Stefan made him so to make him feel better I offered my neck. When it came my turn to turn I felt the fear he must have as well. I knew, however, what had happened to me in Romania...I didn’t know what would happen if I turned. But I couldn’t leave Damon.  
“I tried desperately to cling to my humanity after. It took a lot for me not to kill. My strength and speed was even greater than Damon’s. He never looked at me any different. He just stayed by my side as we adjusted to our new lives. He taught me to feed without killing or at least without losing myself in the kill. He would get himself into shenanigans and I’d have to talk or bust our way out.” She smiled out at the trees she stared at, Damon’s face coming to mind. “Stefan came back again.”

Klaus was surprised and glanced over at her before back at the road. “He did?”

She nodded. “He thought I was dead.” She chuckled sardonically. “It was 1912 - around fifty years later. Damon and I had returned to Mystic Falls for Zachariah's funeral. Damon was still pissed that he killed me and forced me to turn to begin with. He tried to talk Damon into having a drink when I came up. He looked like he had seen a real life ghost when he saw me on Damon’s arm. I wore a black dress similar to the one in tatters I came to them in. Stefan freaked out really badly. It hadn’t crossed his mind that I turned; he thought I was long dead. He panicked and held me underwater in a nearby river until I stopped breathing. Damon knocked him around a few times before diving in after me  _ again. _ That time when he pulled me up Stefan was still sitting at the edge looking positively mortified. I remember hearing him scream when I awoke and gasped for air. After that I realized the only thing I had left to hold onto was Damon, not my humanity. Humanity wouldn’t do either of us any good.”

“I’ve heard tales about you and that wolfy friend of yours - Lethia Kross. I didn’t expect for you to be so close with the Salvatores.”

“Then I guess our plans worked. I got Lethia out of Estonia in 1930 while Damon and I traveled. She was from an old wolf pack out there that wanted to sacrifice her to some supposed god of theirs. We got her out of there and the three of us slaughtered whoever was left. They’re my best friends, always have been; we’re a team. She knew everything. In 1937 we made our way to Bucharest to get rid of whatever remained of my family.”

“I take it that didn’t go over too well.”

“My parents were still there, still ruling with their asses on the same thrones as nearly a century before.”

Even Klaus Mikaelson was rather surprised. “How?” he questioned. “Did they find some poor vampire to turn them?”

“Even worse than that.”

 

* * *

 

[Flashback; Vasile Castle, Bucharest, 1937]

 

“Nova,” the sick voice of her father echoed through the darkness. “We’ve been awaiting your turn,  _ dragă. _ ”

 

The torches on the walls ignited, illuminating through the dark. Nova stood with pride and her head held high; Damon and Lethia flanked her sides. Her hair reached the curve of her lower back, emerald eyes filled with hatred. Even Damon was rather shocked that her parents were still there until he looked up at them. Alina and Felix Vasile sat on their filthy, rusted thrones looking just as filthy and rusted themselves. They were alarmingly pale from never seeing the light of day, borderline skin and bone, thin hair, dirt all over, tattered clothes, hollowed out faces, and dried blood on their lips. Blood stained the floor and walls, splattered all over. They looked like sick marionettes.

 

“Tell me,” Alina smiled, dark fangs peeking over her bottom lip, “who is this handsome man with you? Have you come to tell us you finally wed? Perhaps a grandchild?”

 

Damon resisted the urge to laugh; Nova snickered. “No, actually, you will never have grandchildren,  _ mamă. _ ” Their already eerie and dark eyes widened. “You got your wish, that I would defeat eternity with limitless strength and power.” A Cheshire grin spread across her face as the veins appeared beneath her darkening eyes. “I seem to have been in a horrible accident.”

 

Felix jumped to his feet, a feat the three wasn’t sure he could actually do. “You ran away like a coward to get yourself turned?!”

 

“And in America,” Nova laughed. “If you two are the last ones standing then this should be easy. You look like you’ve already got one foot in the grave, why don’t I help you get the other one there?”

 

Alina began to weep and fell to her knees out of her throne. “We did not want  _ this _ for you,  _ dragă _ ! We wanted you to be a great leader - a human leader!”

 

“What you did to me made me not human already!” She grabbed Felix by the throat harshly. “All you did was extend your own lives so your failure of a daughter could become a vampire and get rid of you herself. If I’d stayed and played your games would I look as you do now? Decrepit and hidden in the darkness?”

 

“How is it you walk in daylight if you are a strigoi?” Felix questioned under her grasp.

 

Nova groaned and threw her father back into his throne. “Strigoi do not exist, father!” He flinched back at her straight, fluent English. “Strigoi and Moroi are myths. Vampires are real. Witches are real.” She held up a dark blue teardrop pendant around her neck. It was plated in silver on a silver chain and in its silver casing formed an ‘N’. “This is a special stone spelled by a witch that allows me to see daylight. Damon has done more for me since I stepped foot in America than you two did in your attempt to raise me.”

 

* * *

 

[Present]

 

Nova absentmindedly touched the necklace that still hung around her neck. Katherine had planned for the Salvatore brothers to turn and already had their daylight rings made. Damon had vanished one day while she slept and came back with the necklace for her. She still didn’t know how he did it but he had it made specially for her with the ‘N’ plate just like his ring had a ‘D’ and Stefan’s with an ‘S’.

“My father struck me,” she continued as she toyed with the pendant. “Damon didn’t take too kindly to that.” She smiled softly.

“You two have an awfully special friendship,” Klaus smirked. “You sure there’s nothing more between the two of you?”

“We’ve always been protective of one another.” She shrugged.

“Ah but is it a strictly platonic kind of protective?”

Nova’s cheeks turned bright red. She dramatically flipped on leg over another, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “That is hardly any of your business!”

He started to laugh. “I’ll take that as a definite ‘no’ then. Come on, luv, the man has been hung up on Katherine Pierce for decades.”

“That’s why I left,” she muttered. She sighed, still fiddling with her necklace anxiously. The last time she actually spoke to someone about all she’d seen was Lethia. “Flash forward to the spring of 1994; I found out he was still looking for Katherine, even after everything. All we’d seen, done, killed, taken, and made for ourselves. I freaked out and took off; I couldn’t handle even the thought of her.”

“You care about him,” he stated with an unreadable expression.

She rolled her eyes. “No shit.”

“Love is a vampire’s greatest weakness.”

Her cheeks turned pink. “Who the hell said anything about love?”

“Who didn’t?” He smirked over at her.

 

* * *

 

“You’re interrupting my drink,” Damon greeted as he answered his phone.

“You miss me?”

He scowled. “Katherine. Where are you?”

“Lurking outside your window, pining away.”

He rolled his eyes and sipped his bourbon. “What do you want?”

“I'm homesick. What have I missed?”

“Well, Stefan's home now no thanks to you.”

“Ooh, did you and little Elena make a good enough tag team? Is there a threesome I’m missing out on?”

Damon chuckled. “No, actually, someone rather unexpected jumped in and helped with this kickass fighting, great leadership, and a giant wolf for a BFF. I think you might know her. Does the name Nova Vasile ring a bell?”

He smirked when he heard her snarl on the other end.

“Well that explains quite a bit then. And here I was calling you to tell you your old rebound was yucking it up with Klaus.”

“Are you trailing them? How the hell do you know she’s with Klaus?”

“A hybrid who wants me dead and his sidekick who's off the rails? I couldn't be further away.”

“Which means you know exactly where they are. Where’s Nova, Katherine?”

“All I know is that Klaus pitched a fit once his hybrids didn't work. Now he's looking for some answers with an obnoxious little black haired vampire by his side.”

“How do you know that? Where is she?”

“Spend 500 years running, and there will be a few people along the way that are looking out for you.”

“Is that what you're doing? Looking out for Nova? Thought you despised her.”

“Oh don’t get me wrong, I do. I’ve been contemplating tearing her head off her shoulders.”

“Don’t you dare lay a finger on her,” he growled into the phone. “Or I will rip your heart from your chest.”

“Be careful Damon, or people will begin to think you care more about her than Elena or I.”

She hung up on him and he crushed the glass cup in his hand. Footsteps approaching him caught his attention. He found Lethia sitting on the table with a smirk. “Road trip?”

“I don’t know where Klaus went with her,” he sighed, cleaning off his hand.

“I do!” She sang, holding up a tablet. He stepped closer and saw a map with a red dot blinking. “Katherine called from Chicago.” She winked. “I’ve become quite tech-savvy over the years. Now come on, let’s go get our girl.”

 

* * *

 

Nova made a face as she stared up at the neon sign with her arms crossed over her chest. “You took me on an almost twelve hour car ride to some bar?”

Klaus clapped her on the back. “Better than boat, isn’t it, luv?” He laughed and walked into the bar, leaving her seething outside.

“ _ Pizdă, _ ” she muttered before following him inside.

“So a hybrid walks into a bar,” Klaus started, grinning at the bartender. Nova let out a loud groan behind him.

“Stop it,” the woman hushed him playfully. “You may be invincible but that doesn’t make you funny.”

“Nothing does,” the ravenette quipped with a sarcastic smile. “Certainly not a forced twelve hour car ride.”

“I know you,” the woman wagged her finger thoughtfully as she walked past Klaus to Nova. “You’re the one people seem to call the ‘SuperNova’, aren’t you, child?”

She rubbed the back of her head, grinning nervously. “Well, a supernova is the massive explosion of a star’s life so I guess it’s fitting with my career path in life…”

Gloria smiled and pointed at her necklace. “I know the spell coming off that necklace - a friend of mine just before my time was the one to do it. Said Damon Salvatore needed it for a beautiful young lady in an unfavorable situation. What are you doing with Klaus Mikaelson then?”

Her expression paled, lips twitching. She opened her mouth for a snarky remark about being kidnapped for helping a friend but Klaus threw his arm around her shoulders with a grin. She resisted the instinct to grab his arm and throw him over her. “I thought I’d have some more interesting company on my trips.” She rolled her eyes. “Besides, she could use some fun in her life after spending so much time with riff raff like the Salvatores.”

 

_ Slam. _

 

Nova’s eye twitched with rage as she stared at him on his back at her feet. She decided to avoid a table when she flipped him. “Watch your tongue when you speak about the family that actually cared for me. I don’t give a damn who you think you are.” She turned to Gloria apologetically. “I apologize for the display of violence in your establishment, but he’s a dick.” She smiled.

Gloria laughed as Klaus stood with a scowl. “Don't. I know why you're here. A hybrid out to make more hybrids? That kind of news travels.”

“Well he sucks at it.” She shrugged. Gloria handed her and Klaus drinks.

The hybrid rolled his eyes and tried to ignore her. “What am I doing wrong? I broke the curse.”

“Obviously you did something wrong. Look, every spell has a loophole, but a curse that old...We'd have to contact the witch who created it.”

“Well, that would be the original witch. She's very dead.”

“At least someone is,” Nova muttered, sipping at her glass of rum and coke.

 

 

* * *

 

Stefan and Damon were flying down the highway in Damon’s baby blue Camaro. Lethia surprised them when she pulled out keys to a 1967 Maserati. She grinned and told them it was a pastel gold convertible that she bought off the lot in 1967 and that she does all the regular maintenance on it. She forced the brothers together in Damon’s car, calling dibs on a ‘girl’s ride’ with Elena. Stefan and Elena were apprehensive at first but Damon and Lethia assured them she was ‘a good noodle’. They had left before the girls but sure enough Damon found a pastel gold blur whizzing past him. He started to laugh.

“She got a specialized plate too?” Stefan muttered with bewilderment. “What the hell does that say?”

“California plate; it says ‘LIL WOLF’,” Damon laughed. “Well that finally explains it then.”

“Explains what?”

“Nova got a Firebird with Nevada plates specially made. Hers reads ‘B QUEEN’.”

“B. Queen?”

Damon looked over to his brother with a grin. “Blood Queen and her Little Wolf.”

 

In the Maserati Lethia had music blaring from the speakers, bass thumping deeply. She tapped the steering wheel to the beat, singing loudly to Taylor Swift’s ‘Welcome to New York’. Elena couldn’t help but smile and relax; the blonde wolf didn’t seem so bad. She laughed as they passed by the boys and Lethia flipped them the bird. “I’m sure you’ve got a list of questions longer than a child’s Christmas list to Santa so feel free to ask. I’ve got nothing to hide, really. But some things aren’t for me to tell you so I’ll let you know. I recommend avoiding questions that involve Nov’s life too deeply.”

Elena was surprised but not about to pass up the opportunity. “How do you and Nova know each other?”

The blonde smiled, still dancing and tapping to the music she barely turned down (just enough to hear and speak without screaming). “I was born in a small Estonian village in 1914.” She grinned at Elena’s shock. “I know, right? Wolves aren’t supposed to live that long!” She laughed. “Well my pack was a special one and by special I mean they were absolute lunatics and I’m special because of it.” She laughed again. “The Kross wolves are a large breed to begin with; our runts are the size of your average werewolf. Some have the strength to force their turn on nights that the moon isn’t full and some have the strength to stop from turning on the full moon. Lethia and Damon came to Estonia in 1930 when I was 16 and stumbled across my village. The elders knew what they were and planned to kill them. They had stepped on sacred ground during a ceremony which I am still thankful for to this day.”

“Why’s that?”

“I was in the ceremony - I was a sacrifice so the elders could keep their power and the clan would be blessed with the continued abilities I mentioned. Even people that weren’t capable of that still went along with the sacrifice every year. I managed to get away when I was 15 - that’s when it’s supposed to be done - but they brought me back for 16 and the hope of leniency from the gods. Nova thought their ideals were fucked and wanted to save me. Damon was right there by her side. They slaughtered even the largest of wolves and elders that came for them mercilessly like a king and queen.” She smiled at the memory.

“Why did it have to be you for the sacrifice?”

“Because I could shift at will and I was bigger than the elders.”

Elena blinked. “So you’ve always been--?”

Lethia laughed some more. “Yes, I have. Only once every random chunk of time does it supposedly happen and because that person can do all that they must contain the most of the clan’s energy and therefore must be the sacrifice.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s why I ran - shit doesn’t make any sense. I’m pretty sure the elders just didn’t want to be upstaged.” She snickered.

She nodded slowly, taking everything in. “Damon had mentioned you were linked to Nova…?”

The blonde nodded. “After Nova and Damon saved me she and I became close. I mean  _ close _ . We both realized how similar our lives had been in one way or another and we bonded immediately. The three of us traveled and protected each other. Damon’s kind of like an obnoxious brother for me since he tore the head off my blood brother about to sacrifice me.” Another laugh. “In 1937 we went to Bucharest to get rid of whatever might remain of the Vasile line - Nova’s family. I was about to turn 23. When we got there,” she shook her head. “Her parents were still alive and let me tell you that was not pretty.”

“How were they still alive? I mean, I’m no genius at math, but I thought Nova was from the 1800s…”

“She is, and they were as well. All I can tell you is that they were some sick, sick fucks playing around with the supernatural. Especially vampires. But they never wanted to be vampires, they wanted to be superior than even that. They wanted to be superhuman instead of what they thought were monsters.”

“But they turned themselves into monsters.”

Lethia nodded. “Oh yeah they did. And they weren’t going down without a fight. They knew it’d be more difficult to kill Nova but not me or Damon. They were going to link her to Damon but I got in the middle and took the spell instead.”

“Why would you do that?”

She looked over at the brunette with a smile. “I knew the repercussions of the spell. I wasn’t going to let that happen to my king and queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much CoraPearson for being the very first to leave me kudos!  
> xoxo


	5. You're Loving on the Murderer Sitting Next to You.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova's biggest regret & finally saying aloud what she never could~

05: You’re Loving On the Murderer Sitting Next to You. 

 

“So women in the 21st century dress like prostitutes, then. You know, I got dirty looks for wearing trousers.”

Nova snickered, mindlessly looking through clothes. “I got whipped for wearing combat boots. Twice as bad when I lashed out again wearing trousers _and_ the boots.”

Rebekah smiled at the ravenette. Since her brother finally undaggered her, she and Nova had been harassing him nonstop. She didn’t mind Nova, Vasile or not. They had swiped his credit card and gone shopping together. “What is this music? It sounds like a cable car accident.”

She chuckled. “Dubstep.” She shook her head as the song ended. “Not all music today is awful. Just most of it.” As she looked through some blouses she found herself dancing a little to the new song playing.

The blonde original started to laugh. “Well it seems you like this one!”

The ravenette stopped and realized what was playing. She laughed. “This is Taylor Swift. This song has been rammed into my head because it’s my best friend’s favorite song - Welcome to New York. She’s a sucker for Taylor Swift.”

“Who’s your best friend?” She made a small face and tossed Nova some clothes. “And are you ever going to try anything on?”

“I thought we were here for you since your jackass brother kept you in a box for like 90 years.”

“And you don’t want to help me max out his credit card?” She smirked. “Come on, surely you can find something to catch the eye of that boyfriend of yours.” She winked.

Nova’s cheeks flamed red, emerald eyes wide. “B-boyfriend? No, no,” she waved her hands around to solidify the ‘no’. “I’m totally on the market. Have been for basically ever and I rather like it that way.”

“Huh,” Rebekah put a hand on her hip, eyeing the girl up and down. “I wouldn’t have guessed by the way you shut Nik down constantly. Something about you just screams ‘taken’.” She shrugged. “There must be someone in your life you’re close to that should be your boyfriend then.”

Nova immediately thought of Damon. She spun on her heel towards a dressing room. “Nope, just a couple of really amazing friends over the decades.”

Rebekah leaned against the dressing room door with a smirk. “Does one of those people happen to be Damon Salvatore?” She heard the girl drop everything in her arms and snickered. “Nik told me Stefan was supposed to be here; he used to be an old flame of mine, you see, and a good friend of Nik’s. Said you bargained yourself to return Stefan home to Mystic Falls with his brother Damon.”

“Damon and I have been friends since I came to America. The Salvatores took me in kindly.”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be vague with me, Nova. I know there’s underlying meanings when people are vague. I’ve walked this Earth for a thousand years. There’s more than even you apparently care to admit. So come on, between us girls, tell me about your relationship with Damon. Maybe...maybe I can help?”

Nova blinked as she stared at her reflection. She had sat on the floor in her bra and panties surrounded by clothes, unsure of what to put on. She had been on the fence about Rebekah from the get go but as time passed (albeit not much) she saw herself and Lethia in the blonde. She came from some kind of power with regality, seen shit in her life that made her toughen up, but she was still a happy go lucky girl inside. She took a breath, heart thumping a little harder in her chest.

“He’d been there since day one.” Rebekah smiled when Nova spoke. “All my life I’d heard how disgusting and terrible America was but when I got off the boat I was puking my brains out and this handsome stranger just came up behind me and held my hair. He showed me more kindness in ten minutes than I’d seen in nineteen years. He offered me a home, taught me proper English, was there every time I had a nightmare, and then fell in love with Katherine Pierce.” She sighed.

Rebekah frowned. “Keep talking.”

Nova rubbed her face and held her head in her hands. She decided to allow herself to be vulnerable to Rebekah. She would obviously end up talking to Lethia eventually too, considering that blonde knew twice as much as Rebekah ever would, but Lethia was more likely to go back to Damon. “Just... just keep this between the two of us, please?”

She smiled. “You have my word, Nova. Girl talk.”

The ravenette took a deep breath. “I used to get nightmares so bad to the point that Damon would just sleep in the same bed as me. It was taboo as all hell so we had to be stealthy about it. He’d even lace up my corsets in the morning.” She smiled at the memory. “I fell on my face the first few times I wore heels and swiped a pair of his boots. He laughed and didn’t tell Giuseppe. But then fucking Katherine blew into town and both Stefan and Damon dropped to their knees for the bitch!”

“Both of them?” Rebekah mused. “What a bloody slut!”

Nova laughed. “Right? For fuck’s sake she even had to compel Saint Stefan. That’s what always killed me about Damon - she never compelled him.” She sighed. “He genuinely fell in love with her. And I could never understand why it hurt me so fucking badly. Every time I saw them together it felt like my chest was about to cave in. I knew who she was, she’d screwed over my family centuries ago. I... I’ve only ever told Lethia this but it wasn’t Stefan who told Giuseppe that Katherine was a vampire. He was going to and I told him not to because of how upset Damon would be. When he finally walked off _I_ went and told Giuseppe who was part of the council. Immediately after they started rounding up the vampires.

“I chased after them when they ran out to rescue Katherine. Giuseppe caught me in Damon’s boots and held me back, aiming his gun at his own boys. I’ll never forget hearing it go off twice and the way I screamed. I lashed out and fought him for his gun, shooting him in the leg and running off to help the boys. It killed me still that they had Katherine’s blood in their system to turn them but at least they’d be alive. At least Damon would be alive. But when he woke and didn’t want to complete transition I made the immediate decision, even after promising him I’d live on, that if he died I was going to as well.”

Rebekah smiled softly. Nova had fallen in love with Damon when she was still human. She could only imagine all that had happened since she turned. “I want you to put on the navy pants, and black Nordstrom sweater. I’m going to find you accessories and shoes. Keep talking!”

She dug through the clothes until she found the pants and shirt she was told to put on. With a shrug she wiggled into the tight but nicely fitting jeans. “We’ve traveled together for decades now,” she continued, looking in the mirror at how the jeans fit her. She nodded; her behind looked pretty nice! By 1960 we’d seen so much shit we both just turned it off and pounded the pavement. I actually own an apartment out here still; I used to co-own a vampire friendly nightclub. Did some underground gambling, saved money because I was the entertainment,” she shrugged.

The blonde stopped while she was looking through shoes. “Entertainment?”

Nova snickered. “Nothing inappropriate, although I did try that once. Not my favorite - the poles were slimey. And did you know the strippers don’t actually spin? The pole does!” She shook her head and put on the sweater. “I was the lounge singer.”

“You can sing?”

She nodded and Rebekah tossed over a dark green scarf and box of shoes, surprisingly in her size. She either looked at Nova’s shoes herself or was really good with clothes. “Damon can too. Sometimes we would duet.” She smiled softly and slipped the scarf over her head. “Even when I stopped having nightmares I couldn’t get him out of my bed. ‘I got so used to you,’” she mocked with a laugh. “‘I’m not just sleeping alone now.’” She laughed again when she opened the box of shoes. “Combat boots. Much appreciated.”

Rebekah laughed a little and tossed her a dark emerald pea coat. “They suit you best, I can tell. Besides, they’re best for violence, are they not?”

“Oh they are,” Nova grinned as she laced up the shoes. “I have stomped many throats and faces in wearing combat boots.” She slipped on the jacket and exited the dressing room, doing a little spin for her new friend. “Alright, what do you think?”

“Perfect!” She beamed.

  


* * *

 

 

“What is this place?” Elena questioned as they walked down the hall of an old apartment complex.

“Yes, Damon,” Stefan agreed. “What is this place? It’s the other side of the block where I…” He trailed off with guilt and shame.

Damon pulled a green key on a small chain from his pocket and stopped at the door numbered 533. Lethia was right behind grinning; she knew very well where they were and also had a green key. “This is Nova’s apartment,” he told them as the door opened. “She still has it for when she’s out here. Lethia and I both have keys.” The blonde pulled a chain from beneath her shirt and showed the key dangling off the end. “She knew very well where your stomping grounds were too. She co-owned a club out here - Delirium - before the one in New York.”

“How long was she in Chicago…?” Stefan asked apprehensively.

“She first came here in 1920.” The younger brother seemed to flinch. “We had separated for a little bit on mutual terms just to get things done. She wanted to start out here and I had a couple other things not in Chicago to do.”

“Searching for Katherine,” Lethia muttered with a small glare and her arms crossed. “Don’t think I don’t know. Nov tells me everything.”

Damon rolled his eyes; he already figured Lethia knew everything. He kept wandering about the still well kept apartment, looking at various pictures of himself and Nova through the years on the walls. “I joined her in 1922.” He turned to his brother with a small smirk when he saw the look of horror on his face.

Lethia’s ears perked up and her eyes seemed to glow gold. “We need to get out of here or hide. Like five minutes ago.”

“What’s going on?” Elena asked with a hint of fear.

“I told you that Nova and I are linked,” the blonde explained as her eyes returned to normal. “We can sense one another just as well as if something happens it happens to both. We’ve practiced over the years. She’s coming and Klaus is with her, I could see it. I just hope she couldn’t channel back and if she did then Klaus didn’t notice.”

  


* * *

 

 

Nova was thankful she also grabbed sunglasses and hadn’t taken them off yet. The moment she reached the second floor she channeled Lethia. She could see the blonde in her apartment. She’d be damned if she allowed Klaus to get his hands on her. So as they walked up the stairs she started to slow down and walk more leisurely. Only after the channeling stopped did she take off her sunglasses, cursing quietly that Lethia had followed her. She wasn’t terribly surprised as the girl had gotten incredibly equipped with technology over the years. There never was hiding from Lethia every time they had to part ways.

“Your old apartment is near Stefan’s,” Klaus commented with a smirk. “How funny.”

“I was here first,” she replied coldly. “In 1920. He blew in two years later and started screwing everything up.” She hesitantly took her emerald key out of her pocket as she stared up at the number 533 mockingly on her door. She could only pray that Lethia had hidden or left. Biting her lip she unlocked and opened the door with Klaus and Rebekah standing behind her. She closed her eyes until the door swung open, exhaling in relief when the living room was empty and untouched. She could still smell the lingering of Lethia’s perfume, one she had stolen from that very apartment years ago.

“Have you been here recently?” Rebekah asked as she walked in, looking around. “It still smells like perfume.”

“I was here just before returning to Mystic Falls, actually.” That was at least the truth. “I try to keep this place as clean and fresh as I can just like the other flats I still own.” She took off her jacket and went to the back closet to put it away. Her breath caught in her throat when she found _Elena and Stefan_ hiding in her closet. She froze, staring wide eyed with the jacket still in hand, screaming in her mind.

‘ _What the fuck?!’_  She mouthed to them with panic. Elena quickly snatched her coat and mouthed an ‘ _I’m so sorry!’_  back. The ravenette facepalmed as she shut the door and returned to the living room.

_Fuck!_ Nova screamed in her mind, keeping it off of her face. _Fuck, fuck, fuck! Why the fuck are_ they _here?! Are they here with Lethia? Is she somewhere else? Did she run?_ An even worse idea struck her. _Is Damon here too…?_

“You’ve got an awful lot of photos of Damon,” Klaus commented as he looked at each framed picture on her walls. “Even more than Lethia it seems.”

She also looked around at all the photos and smiled softly. It was the first time she realized just how many frames were on her walls and even more were in the bedroom. She didn’t miss the way Rebekah seemed to grin. She shrugged. “Like I told you, we’ve been best friends since 1860. A lot of time, a lot of forced pictures. He got me a polaroid camera the second it was on the market so I would stop with the obnoxious old ones.” She laughed a little. “That’s actually that picture right there.” She pointed over to one in a little black frame on the wall. It was of just Damon, holding his hand out to hide his face and clearly blinded by the flash.

“Why’d you leave him then?”

Rebekah shot him a glare and Nova scowled. “I told you why.”

The blonde was confused. “What are you talking about?”

Nova sighed and sat on the counter. “Damon and I had separated a few times mutually. We always met back up in barely three years, five max. Like when I came to Chicago; I had a business deal and he had other business but he found me by 1922. In March 1994 I found out every time we separated was because he was searching for Katherine. I lost my mind and I…” She bit her lip. “I left. I abandoned him.”

“He was still looking for the woman who lied to him and broke his heart,” the blonde soothed. “I personally would have ripped his heart out.”

She shook her head. “I knew, though. Somehow I just knew she weaseled her way out and she wasn’t in that tomb. It was Katherine Pierce, she wasn’t going to be taken to rot in a tomb. And I wasn’t even there when he found out. I should have been and I left. I left my best friend to get hurt again and again after all he’d done for me.”

Klaus walked over to her and cupped her cheek in his hand, rubbing it with his thumb gently. “You can’t blame yourself for his idiocy, luv.”

She pulled her face away and shook her head again, jumping off the counter. “I have for years. It’s my biggest regret in life, honestly.”

He grabbed her by the arm and pulled her closer to him. He was irritated that she’d been blowing him off _and_ talking about Damon all day. She talked about him so highly yet completely denied anything romantic. She wasn’t going to just evade him. She was a Vasile. He knew exactly what that meant. “You’re not going to get anywhere clinging to something and someone who did not show you the same loyalty you gave.”

She opened her mouth to scold him when he pulled her closer and kissed her. Her eyes widened with rage and horror; her heart thumped loudly in her ears. All she could see was Damon in her memory. Nova shoved him hard in his chest, knocking him back. She wiped her mouth with the sleeve over the back of her hand. Tears started to well in her eyes and she started to shake. “I love Damon. It’s always going to be Damon.” Without another word she stormed off towards the back of the apartment into her bedroom and slammed the door shut, clicking the lock after.

“Way to go, Nik,” Rebekah hissed with her hands on her hips. “Get moving. The poor girl needs space; it’s taken her well over a century to finally admit that she is in love with bloody man.” She ushered her brother out of the apartment before he could protest.

Once it was silent Stefan and Elena crept out of the closet. Lethia and Damon nearly fell out of the kitchen pantry, scrambling towards Nova’s bedroom. The blonde jumped around reaching for something on the top of the doorframe. Damon reached up and grabbed the key with ease, making her pout. Stefan and Elena joined them as the door was unlocked and opened. The elder brother burst into the room, calling Nova’s name, and stopped in his tracks. The window was wide open, curtains blowing in the wind. Nova had ran. Lethia started cursing wildly in Estonian; Damon stared at the open window with a broken look in his eyes.


	6. Don't You Dare Surrender.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The very beginning of the downfall of Nova's mental state~

06: Don’t You Dare Surrender.

 

Nova sat in a special section of Delirium with a vampire friendly raspberry martini, staring off absentmindedly. She watched the crowd dance to the music pounding through the speakers. “ _I need a gangsta_ ,” she sang quietly to the song as she mindlessly stirred the martini, “ _to love me better than all the others do. To always forgive me, ride or die with me, that’s just what gangstas do…_ ”

Everything seemed to slow down when she sensed them walk in. And she could feel it, there was no mistake. They likely couldn’t see one another through the crowd, but they both found her. Her eyes made no mistake in finding Damon’s ice blue first and never moved. She brought the martini to her lips, still staring at him over the glass. She could feel Klaus’ eyes on her. She blinked and her lashes brushed the tops of her cheeks. Her heart beat madly inside of her chest. Slowly she rose to her feet and walked to the edge of the small section reserved for herself. She took a breath and ran through the crowd.

 

Right for Damon.

 

He reached for her just as she cleared the crowd. They nearly touched and she was promptly swept away, kicking and screaming. Klaus grabbed her around the waist, holding her tightly to him just off the floor. Everyone stopped and the music fell silent. Almost all of them knew at least one, if not all three, of them. She screamed at him in Romanian; Damon recognized a few of the nasty words.

“Tell me, luv,” Klaus hissed in her ear dangerously, “just how much do you value Damon’s life, hm?”

“If you don’t let her go,” Damon growled, “I swear to God…”

“You want to return to Mystic Falls?” Klaus still spoke to Nova. “Go right ahead, I already planned on going myself. The question is what I’ll do when I get there.” He looked to Damon. “I promised Stefan I wouldn't let you die, but how many freebies did I really sign up for? And clearly you want to die, otherwise you wouldn't be here, so…”

He shrugged, still glaring icily at him. “What can I say? I’m a thrill seeker.”

The hybrid nodded and tossed Nova a few feet away onto her arse. He stomped over to Damon and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off the floor. With his free hand he grabbed a toothpick and shoved it into Damon’s side. “Oh, dear, what was that? I'm boozey, so you'll forgive me if I miss your heart the first few tries.”

Nova leaped to her feet and pulled at Klaus’ arm. “Let him go, Klaus!” She cried. “What more do you want?”

Without releasing Damon he looked at her. “You want to keep Mystic Falls and your precious Salvatores safe? Marry me.”

“ _ What? _ ” Damon choked under his grasp.

Nova fell back a couple of steps, her legs shaking and eyes wide. “Wh-what…?”

Klaus smirked. “You’re a Vasile, luv. And the very last. You know exactly what I want.”

“Please,” she begged, almost in a whisper. “Anything but that…”

“Those are my terms, luv. Agree to marry me and you can return to Mystic Falls with Damon if you wish. But sixty days after your return you have a grand Mystic Falls wedding and surrender the Vasile name to the Mikaelson.”

Damon writhed under him, shaking his head furiously. “Don’t do it, Nova! We’ll figure something out!”

He knew. He knew what marrying the last Vasile daughter would bring him. Mystic Falls was her home in her heart whether she lived there or not. Damon was... Damon was not meant to be used as a threat. She bit the inside of her cheek; she didn’t have a choice. Klaus took his eyes off of her to stab at Damon again. Nova reacted quickly and ripped a chunk of wood off of the bar, aiming for the hybrid. He growled and, even with one hand still choking Damon, snatched the wood from her hands and shoved her to the floor.

“You’re testing my patience, luv,” he barked at her and started to push the makeshift stake into Damon’s abdomen. “Deal’s still on the table but I’m going to have to alter it a bit.” He twisted the wood; Damon cried out in pain. “Afraid I won’t let you leave now but I’ll spare Mystic Falls and Damon’s life right now.”

Tears flowed freely down Nova’s pale face, stunning the crowd. Only a handful of people had ever witnessed Nova Vasile cry and most of them were dead. She was sitting up on her side helplessly on the floor with no way out. She looked incredibly human beneath Klaus Mikaelson. Damon kept pleading for her to not give into him no matter what. He knew he was falling on deaf ears but he couldn’t stop. Nobody could see the few stray tears through the blood on his face.

 

* * *

 

[Flashback; Romania, 1859]

 

Nova was in a daze. She was sitting in her throne between her parents’ but her wrists were tied to the arm rests with her sleeves hiding the restraints. Her legs were numb; she could barely move them. Her parents were smiling at her but the light had left their eyes. All she could see were monsters. Her mother placed her silver crown on her dark hair. For hours she was forced awake and to look nice in her throne as possible suitors went through her parents’ tests. All she could do was scream in her mind.

 

“You are our only child, Nova,” her mother told her at one point when there was a small break. She was fixing Nova’s hair and crown again. “By tradition you will be merging with another powerful family. We cannot allow that to be just anyone. The Vasile bow to no one, do you understand me,  _ dragă? _ ”

 

She couldn’t and she wouldn’t nod. She struggled to gain feeling in her legs, focusing deeply on it.

 

“Once your body adjusts to its improvements you will be the superior woman, the top of the food chain. It will not matter whom you marry because you will lead. Your children will follow in your footsteps and your husband will be long forgotten. You will be the perfect living, human black widow.”

 

“Precisely why you will not marry beneath you,” her father joined in. “Had we had a son the Vasile name would continue to dominate but being a woman you have more work cut out for you, girl. The moment Vasile is taken from your name you are to ensure you have children. Once you know you have that you conquer everything and I assure you that you will. By then you will have the ability to reclaim the Vasile name for yourself and your children to continue our line with power because those children will have the special blood you do.”

 

She just wanted to throw up.

 

* * *

 

[Present]

 

Nova had never felt more vulnerable in her life. She sat on a queen sized bed with her knees to her chest. Her hair was in disarray, eyeliner and mascara smeared down her cheekbones with dried tears. She was back in Mystic Falls locked in a room sealed by magic. Klaus and Rebekah argued downstairs. If she looked close enough out the window she could see the boarding house in the distance. If her life wasn’t tied to Lethia’s she probably would have taken off her necklace when she saw the boarding house in the distance.

Lethia could feel her pain which only worsened her own. When she finally made it to the boarding house she watched Damon lose his mind. She turned and ran, jumping back in her car and speeding off. She couldn’t handle it. She was going to unhinge.

As it turned out, Klaus was twice as angry because someone had killed Gloria before he could get any answers and frankly he was sick of the Salvatores in his life. It didn’t matter what year it was or if she was a vampire; Nova Vasile was the only living Vasile left therefore making her the queen of their Bucharest territory. When she married him he would annihilate the Vasile name and be a king. She was too free willed and strong to stand toe to toe with him. On top of that he caught wind that Elena Gilbert was still alive. He would break Nova and her love for Damon Salvatore would make that easy. 

“So what’s this I hear about Elena being alive, luv?” He questioned her with a smirk, dragging her by the arm through the halls of Mystic Falls high.

“Get bent,” Nova spat back venomously.

Klaus chuckled. Doors in front of them opened and Elena nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw them both. She looked immediately to Nova who’s face begged her to run. Without question the brunette whipped it around and booked it down the all. Klaus moved after her. Nova yanked back from his grasp to give Elena a head start. He snarled and threw her into the metal doors before chasing down Elena.

“Go, Nova!” Elena cried.

Nova moved quicker than she ever had before in speeding out of the high school. She didn’t stop or look back until she burst through the door of the boarding house. Stefan caught her before she fell on the floor out of breath. “Klaus is at the school and he found Elena!” She cried to the younger brother. “Where the hell are Damon and Lethia?”

Stefan’s lips pursed into a tight line. “Lethia took off and Damon... he…”

Her body turned rigid, eyed cold and hard. It didn’t take much to figure it out. She held out her hand to him. “Give me your phone,” she demanded icily. He did so without question, fumbling the phone out of his pocket. 

“I told you, Stefan--” Damon began on the other line.

“If you don’t get back to Mystic Falls in the next ten minutes I will completely derail, hunt you down, and feed you that Bulgarian  _ curva _ ’s heart if she’s got one.”

Damon blinked, jaw dropped slightly. He had one hand on the wheel and the other on his phone. He immediately slammed the brakes when he heard her voice. The line went dead and his phone slipped from his hand. In one quick motion he whipped his car around, heading back to Mystic Falls. Beside him Katherine arched a brow. “Dropping everything because she managed to escape once?”

He didn’t take his eyes off the road, maxing out the speedometer. “Because she got away once on her own is why. She made it that far. Whether she needs me or not I’m going to help keep him away from her.”

“What about your precious Elena?”

“Not even you have ever truly meant more to me than Nova, Katherine.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


“I’m not sure what he will do to Elena but I’m positive he will come here for me in the midst of whatever it is he’s doing,” Nova told Stefan with panic. He noticed the way she seemed to seep back into her roots when she was afraid. Her accent seemed to show.

The front door was kicked right off the hinges. “You’re quite right, luv,” Klaus called through the boarding house.

Stefan pressed a finger to his lips and as silently as he could ushered her towards the stairs. As they reached the stairs he was shoved away from his place behind her. Klaus grabbed her by the arm but Stefan jumped to his feet immediately and tackled the hybrid into a wall. He hated to admit it but he was somewhat thankful for the human blood he’d been drinking. “Run, Nova!” He called to the raven haired vampire.

She was frozen in shock. Never in her life had she expected Stefan Salvatore to come to her rescue. She should have never needed rescuing to begin with. If her parents were rolling in their graves for anything it would be what a damsel in distress Nova had become. Cursing in her native tongue she looked apologetically to Stefan and ran for the front door (sans actual door). Just as the cool air hit her the sound of Stefan’s neck being snapped resonated through her ears. Not a second later she was promptly stopped, Klaus’ hand firmly around her throat and lifting her feet off the ground.

“The Vasile name really isn’t so mighty after all, now is it?” He taunted her.

In a flash Nova was back at the school and thrown harshly into the gymnasium. She let out a small cry as she skidded against the floor. “Nova!” She heard Elena call. She forced herself to her feet, desperately hoping her legs wouldn’t shake. Never in her vampire life had she felt so weak. Nobody was stronger than her, not even vampires twice her age. 

But Klaus knew how to get in her head. He had found her only weakness.

“I was wondering when you’d show up,” he spoke when Bonnie entered the gym. “Now we can get started.” He turned to a couple of students and compelled them to go sit on the bleachers. “I assume you’re the reason Elena is still alive?”

Nova went to Elena, immediately checking her for injuries. “Are you alright? What has he done?”

The brunette shook her head. “He compelled Chad and Dana to kill each other if I tried to leave the gym,” she sobbed. “He told me he was going to get you. I’m so sorry, Nova.”

“Don’t be, kid, alright? Look at me.” Elena looked up through the tears in her eyes. “I’ve seen some shit in my life. I’m not going down without a fight.”

“Klaus knows,” she sobbed. Nova furrowed her brows in confusion. “He knows you’re in love with Damon. He knows he can use that against you.”

 

“Get off of me!”

 

The girls turned and found Rebekah dragging Tyler Lockwood in. Nova jumped protectively in front of Elena and watched as Klaus forced the wolf his blood and snapped his neck. “I need you to find a way to save my hybrids, Bonnie. And for Tyler's sake... You better hurry.”

“He’s... dead…” Elena gasped, watching over Nova’s shoulder.

“Klaus’ blood will turn him,” the ravenette explained solemnly. 

“And,” Klaus smirked, “if Bonnie's successful, he'll live through his transition. Go on, then. Go and fetch your grimoires and enchantments and what-not. I'll hold on to Elena... for safe-keeping. Because obviously Nova isn’t going anywhere.”

Bonnie rushed out of the gym. Rebekah looked to Nova and had to do a double take; she swore she saw the girl’s eyes glow for a moment. Rage boiled within the ravenette. She was tired of feeling helpless and bossed around. One way or another she was a queen. A queen that had never bowed to anyone and never will. Her fists were balled tightly, nails digging into the skin of her palms. Eventually they punctured through and blood started to drip from her hands. Elena took a fearful step back. Her fangs popped out without her face changing like it had when she saved Stefan.

“ _ A muri! _ ” Nova cried. She rushed at Klaus, blood dripping fists flying. She landed several blows on him including cutting his lip and making his nose bleed before kicking him into a wall.

Klaus stood, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’m quite impressed with your strength, luv. Been a whole 24 hours without any fresh human blood in your system but you’ve still got some power in that punch.”

“In my culture vampires were separated into categories,” Nova explained as they circled each other. “Strigoi were the low level monsters. Your average run of the mill, ‘animal attack’ vampire. But there were also rumored to be the Moroi. The Moroi were said to be the best of the best. They could blend in with humanity, be powerful leaders. And nobody knew whatever happened to their missing neighbors. The Moroi were the real monsters, you see. You could share your dinner with them and they would mercilessly have you and your family for desert. Moroi kill for the thrill and they have no desire to stop. Strigoi at least do it for food.”

“Hm... how would you compare your lore to Rippers like Stefan then?”

“Easily - Rippers are right in the middle. They can blend into whatever society they’re trying but then they’ll snap. A Moroi is always doing both - blending in and tearing down. It’s like eating all the cake you want and never getting fat for it. Why bother stop?”

“Sounds like you’re speaking from existence. The high and mighty classifies herself as a monster? Fallen to the Strigoi of Romania?”

“No,” she grinned and showed her fangs, “my parents successfully created a Moroi.”

They fought some more before Klaus managed to gain the upper hand. He grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the floor. “If you’re so big and bad then why don’t you enjoy two pieces of that cake with the names ‘Chad’ and ‘Dana’ written on it hm?” He threw her to the floor towards Dana and Chad.

She looked up to him and snarled. “Get bent. I don’t take orders from anyone. I’m a hell of a lot higher than you.”

“You want to protect this town because you’re so powerful and mighty? You want me to spare the lives of the Salvatores and the doppelganger? By all means,” he smirked, “let’s drink on it.”

“I said get bent!” She shouted and lunged for him again.

“Nova!” Elena cried when Klaus grabbed her throat again. “Klaus, please!”

The ravenette struggled beneath his grasp. The full day without as much blood as she was used to was starting to take a toll. Nobody really paid attention to how much she actually drank. “I wonder, luv, did your parents ever figure a way to make you immune to an Original’s compulsion?”

“What?” Nova gasped.

He forced her to look him in the eye, ignoring Elena’s cries. “You will do exactly as I say when I say it. You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply just obey.”

“No!” Elena screamed. “Nova!”

Her pupils dilated and he let her fall to the floor. Her eye twitched and her breathing became shallow. Klaus stood above her with a sadistic grin. “Now, luv,  _ kill them. _ ”

She didn’t have much of a choice. Her face started to change on its own no matter how she screamed in her head.

  
  


* * *

  
  


“Nova!” Damon shouted, running into the boarding house. He cursed under his breath when he noticed the door. Immediately he found Stefan sitting up slowly from the floor. “Stefan, what the hell!”

The younger brother groaned. “Klaus,” he told his brother. “They were at the school and she got away but he found her and took her.”

“Dammit!” He yelled, punching a hole in the wall.

“We’ve got to do something, Damon. He keeps her spelled in a room and who knows what’s happening at that school.”

“We need to get her back, you hear me? Katherine is on the brink of finding Mikael.”

Stefan’s eyes widened. “The vampire hunting vampire Mikael?”

“The  _ Original _ vampire hunting vampire Mikael. Klaus’ step daddy who has hunted him through the centuries trying to kill him.”

Stefan nodded and clapped his brother on the back. “Let’s go get our girls then.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


Elena’s tears splashed off of the gym floor for the ravenette. She sat on her knees in a pool of blood with Dana and Chad’s corpses at her sides. Blood still dripped off of her chin. Her once light emerald eyes were a vacant, hollow green. Rebekah stormed into the gym, startling Elena, but Nova didn’t budge.

“Where is it?!” She yelled, grabbing the brunette by the collar. “Where’s my necklace?”

“What are you talking about?” Klaus groaned.

“She has my necklace! Look!” Rebekah showed him a picture on a cell phone. “Where is it?!”

“I don’t have it anymore!” Elena cried.

“You’re lying!”

“I’m telling the truth! Katherine stole it!”

 

She didn’t miss seeing Nova’s eye twitch when she said Katherine’s name.

 

“Katerina.” Klaus nodded. Another twitch from Nova. “Of course. Well, that's unfortunate. If we had the necklace it would make things a whole lot easier for your witch, but since we're doing this the hard way, let's put a clock on it, shall we?” He went over and set the game clock. “Twenty minutes. If Bonnie hasn't found a solution by then,” he knelt down to Nova, forcing her to look him in the eye. “I want you to feed again. Only this time, I want you to feed on Elena. You know you want to.”

“No!” Elena screamed. “Klaus don’t do this to her!”

“If she tries to run, fracture her spine.” He kissed her forehead before standing and taking his leave with Rebekah.

Elena scrambled over to Nova and knelt down to her, dropping her knees into the blood without a care. “Nova, I know you can hear me,” she spoke with tears running down her face. “Damon is going to come for you, do you understand?” Her eyes seemed to slide over and look at Elena. She cupped Nova’s face comfortingly. “Come on, Nova, you’re stronger than this! Who’s to say you can’t control the compulsion? Lethia told me your compulsion was the best and your mind was so strong only Damon had ever gotten inside.” Something seemed to spark in her eyes. “Yes! Come on, Nova! Think of Damon, you’ve got to! I promise you I can see the same love you have for him in his eyes for you.”

Nova’s head tilted to the side and a tear slipped from her eye. 

  
  


* * *

 

 

[Flashback; Romania, 1859]

 

For days Nova felt prisoner in her own body. Her parents marionetted her around as they saw fit. Finally she could move her fingers on her own beneath her sleeves. She could feel the armrests of her throne. Her head would move to the side. Her parents hosted a small gala. By time it was over she could finally feel her legs and feet. She raked her nails down the armrests over and over. When everyone was finally gone and her parents retired to their chambers she practiced moving her legs around.

 

Sunlight peaked through some of the curtains. As quietly as she could she slipped her arms free of the restraints. She stood quickly and fell to the floor, the sound echoing through the castle. She cursed and forced herself back up, using the walls as support to reach the front door. By time she finally reached it and pushed it open the sunlight beamed down on her and she could stand freely. Without a second thought she ran.


	7. I Can't Change Who I Am.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova's mental downward spiral tearing through her humanity~

07: I Can’t Change Who I Am. 

 

“Do you even have a plan?” Stefan questioned, following Damon into the school.

He flung the doors open mercilessly. “Nope. Don’t need one.”

“You’re going up against Klaus! You need a plan and at least ten back up plans!”

The sound of crying echoed, growing closer. A mass of blonde was running towards them. Caroline practically ran into Stefan crying her eyes out. “He killed Tyler!” She sobbed. “To turn him into one of his hybrids!”

“Where’s the girls, Klaus, and Tyler now?”

“Rebekah’s got Tyler in some classroom until he wakes up,” she sniffled. “Nova and Elena were in the gym. I think Klaus tried to compel Nova. She’s...she’s not doing alright.”

Stefan looked to his brother worriedly. “Can Nova be compelled…?”

Damon opened his mouth when a scream rang through the halls. Elena’s scream.

 

* * *

 

Nova was snarling. Barely five minutes were left on the clock. “Elena, you’re going need to run,” she growled through grit teeth. Her fangs had extended but she refused to allow her face to change.

“You’re stronger than Klaus’ compulsion!” The brunette told her.

“Even if I was,” her nails dug deep into the wood of the bleachers, “I am a Moroi, Elena.” She screamed in pain as her body tried to fight. “I’m a monster worse than your boyfriend. I kill for sport, for fun. I genuinely don’t think anyone I’ve ever fed on lived afterwards. I even get a hold of you and there is no stopping. You are dead.” She cried out, clutching her head as she fell to her knees. “Dammit Klaus, get out of my head!”

“Fight him, Nova! Even if you don’t do it for me, do it for Damon!”

“Elena, please!” Nova pleaded. “Please just run!”

“You can fight, Nova! Your love for Damon is stronger than Klaus’ compulsion!”

“You’re not Damon, now are you!” Nova barked. They both looked to the clock as the buzzer sounded. “Run, Elena! Now!”

She ran through the school, going from one hallway to the next. Nova held on to everything she could so she doesn't have to hurt Elena, but she was pulled out of the gym and crashed from side to side through the hallways. Elena went through a door, closed it and looked through the small. She turned around and started moving but bumped right into Klaus and screamed.

“Oh you’re such a moron,” Nova groaned as her nails tore through the walls. She dropped to her knees, her head throbbing uncontrollably.

 

_“I really like your accent. I think it’s almost as beautiful as your eyes.”_

 

For a moment she could see his eyes. For a moment she felt in control.

 

_“You will do exactly as I say when I say it. You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply just obey.”_

 

Nova grit her teeth, tears pouring down her cheeks. She was dragged to another set of doors and slammed her head against them. She panted, using the doors for support, and glared icily at Klaus. She nearly bent the metal of the door. She forced herself upright with her hands still tightly on the doors. Her spine cracked and she cracked her neck. She forced herself to listen to Elena and focus on Damon but she was starting to lose her control.

“Now this is fascinating.” Klaus commented. “I've never seen this before. The only thing stronger than your craving for blood is your determination for this one girl you seem to detest. Why don't you turn it off?”

She laughed a little, still holding tightly to the doors. “I might not be doing this much effort for her but I’m sure as shit not going to harm her for your bidding. I’ve got more free will than you know what to do with.”

“Come on.” Klaus urged. He knew full well what was giving her a reason to fight him. “Your humanity is killing you. All the guilt from abandoning Damon must be exhausting. Turn it off.”

Nova fell to all fours, clawing at the floor. For a moment she was back in 1994. Her chest ached. The pain spread to her ribs and her back as she flashed to 1860.

 

_“You’re miserable with corsets I see.”_

 

_“I never had to wear anything this intricate in Romania and I lived in a castle.”_

 

_“Welcome to Virginia, sweetheart!”_

 

“Get bent,” she snarled at Klaus, hair covering her face.

The door on the other side of the room burst open. Damon, Stefan, and Caroline ran in. Nova yelled in pain suddenly; her bones were on fire. She cursed in Romanian, forcing herself to her feet with the aid of a wall. Lethia knew she was in danger. Their link was open. Everything seemed to stop when her name resonated through the room with Damon’s voice. She froze up with her back against the walls. Her eyes immediately found his and illuminated a bright emerald.  
  


* * *

 

[Flashback; 1866]

 

Nova jolted upright with a gasp. She coughed a few times, spitting up water. Within seconds Damon was at her side. He brushed her hair out of her face. “You know you have a decision to make now,” he told her softly.

 

“Damon,” she hiccuped, tears forming in her eyes.

 

He shushed her. “Sweetheart you already died for me,” he gently pet her cheek. “Would you... would you live for me?”

 

She looked up at him and leaned into his hand. “Yes.”

  


* * *

 

[Present]

 

“Turn it off!” Klaus shouted at her. “Your humanity and whatever affection you have for Damon Salvatore!”

She grabbed the sides of her head again, digging her nails into the flesh. She let out a vile scream that nearly even made Klaus shudder. Damon ran in without a thought or care and tackled Klaus away from her. Klaus didn’t hesitate to mercilessly pound the life out of the younger vampire. Moments later he was being ripped off by Nova who had gathered monstrous strength. Her eyes were glowing a magnificent emerald, fangs bared protectively. She threw Klaus to the ground and relentlessly hit him the same way he had been doing to Damon.

His ice blue eyes couldn’t believe what they were witnessing. “ _Nova!_ ” He cried, his voice echoing through most of the school.

She cried out in pain, grabbing her head again. Klaus grabbed her by the throat and slammed her to the ground beneath him. “No, no!” She struggled.

 

“ _Turn it off!”_

 

She let out one more foul scream and shoved Klaus off of her before darkness completely consumed her.

  


* * *

 

It had come down to Elena or Nova. In the end Elena had come home with them (forcibly sans some of her blood) and Nova’s comatose self was left with Klaus. She wouldn’t wake up to anything no matter who tried what. She was breathing and her heart was faint, but she refused to wake up. Stefan wasn’t sure how many holes were in the walls anymore. Finally a girl chose him for decades upon decades and Damon was only kept from her.

“We just need to think of a plan,” Stefan tried to assure his brother when a knock came at the door.

Damon had given up on glasses and was drinking his bourbon straight from the bottle. “You saw her, Stefan. Not even Nova Vasile could last a few rounds against Klaus.”

“So, what? You’re just giving up on her? Gonna let her get forcibly married to Klaus if she ever wakes up? You’re the only one who can get into her head, Damon. You woke her up when the spell was put on her and Lethia, didn’t you?”

“How do you know about that?” He muttered.

Stefan opened the door and found Rebekah waiting with bags. “Afternoon, boys. Which one’s my room?”

The younger brother blinked in confusion. “Shouldn’t you be staying with your brother?”

“He left me here,” the blonde huffed. “Left both of us here.” Her eyes wandered straight to Damon. She pushed her way in, still looking at Damon. “At least I’m not spelled to stay in a bedroom all day.”

Damon’s eyes widened. “Nova’s still there…?” He breathed.

“Nik went and high tailed it out of town with whatever doppelganger blood he could get his filthy hands on,” Rebekah rolled her eyes. “Told me to keep an eye on her but no way I’m spending all day around the handful of bloody hybrids he’s already got.” With a shrug she went upstairs and found a room for herself.

He immediately fumbled his phone out of his pocket and dialed. Katherine answered with a groan. “What?”

“What?” Damon hissed. “What do you mean ‘what’? I’ve been calling you for two days!”

“Odd, that’s exactly how long I’ve been ignoring you.”

“I know you found Mikael. Klaus has Nova comatose and possibly compelled.”

He could tell by the silence that Katherine clearly didn’t like the idea of Nova Vasile being compelled by Klaus Mikaelson. “Sort of,” she finally replied. “He’s a little bit out of commission; he won’t eat. I've tried everything... Gravediggers, mourners, mice, rats, bats. He's just not interested.”

“Well, try harder. We need him to kill Klaus to keep Nova safe. We’ve got a small window to get her today but she’s still comatose and Klaus is set on marrying her.”

Katherine choked on the air. “Klaus wants her hand in marriage?”

“You sound even more concerned than us.”

“I’ll wake up Mikael. I have not survived 500 years to see the last Vasile forcibly married to Klaus Mikaelson.”

The call ended and Katherine looked down at Mikael’s desiccated form. She grabbed a man and forced him to bleed over Mikael’s mouth. “No!” He finally spoke, color returning to his flesh. “Get it away!”

“You need blood,” Katherine told him sternly, tossing the body to the side. “Klaus is trying to force the last Vasile girl’s hand in marriage.”

Mikael’s eyes opened and looked up at her. “Niklaus is going to marry Nova Vasile?”

“Good, you already know her. Then you know what it means is Klaus gets his hands on that kind of power.”

“I will not allow that.”

  


* * *

 

“I'm trying to keep Bonnie out of this.” Elena shook her head. “She’s already been through enough.”

“Sorry I’m late,” Tyler entered the boarding house. “What’s going on?”

“Do you know how many hybrids are guarding Nova right now?” Damon questioned.

The hybrid blinked. “Why does that matter?”

“We need to get Nova out of there, Tyler,” Stefan explained. “She’s in a lot of danger.”

“You will be if you try to take Nova from Klaus.”

“Trust me,” Elena encouraged him. “It’s in everyone’s best interest.”

“Not Klaus’. He’s going to marry her.”

“But Klaus is the bad guy, Tyler.” Caroline tried to talk some sense into him. “Why are you acting like some freaky, hybrid, slave minion?”

“Uh oh,” Damon groaned, looking at the hybrid in question.

“Klaus made me who I am,” Tyler told them. “I owe him everything.”

Suddenly pain crossed Tyler’s face. He gasped for air, choking a little, and fell to the floor with a vervain dart deep in his neck. Behind him stood Lethia much to everyone’s shock. Her hair was a mess of knots, dark circles and bags beneath her hazel eyes that lacked light. “He’s sired to the bastard,” she told them, her voice raspy. “He’ll bend over backwards for the prick.”

“How do we help him?” Caroline sobbed.

“Get a new boyfriend,” Lethia told him coldly. “The spell on Nova’s room is to keep her specifically in; not keeping anyone out.” She nodded over her shoulder and Bonnie entered behind her.

“Channelling Lethia I can keep the barrier down for five minutes,” the witch told them.

“Bonnie,” Elena started with concern, “we--”

“Lethia asked me,” she cut off the brunette. “I wasn’t going to help but she showed me what Nova was seeing through their link.”

There was no missing the pain that found its way to Damon’s countenance. “So she’s not alright, is she…?”

Lethia walked past everyone and looked right up at him. He expected her to clock him in the nose like she had so many times before and froze when she hugged him and started to cry. “She’d told me everything,” she sobbed into his chest. “But seeing it for yourself is worse than words. You can still get in her head, right? I tried over and over again but the link wouldn’t go through. You need to save her, Damon. Before he ruins her mind.”

Everyone was surprised when Damon hugged her tightly back. They could see the determination in his eyes. “We’ll get her back, Thea. I promise.”

  


* * *

 

In her mind, Nova screamed. She screamed her fool head off, feeling blood drip all over her skin. She screamed so loud to tune out the screams of those she’d long since killed. She tried to run and slipped in blood.

 

_“You will do exactly as I say when I say it. You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply just obey.”_

 

All she could do was scream.

 

Outside in the bushes Alaric and Elena hid with bows and vervain dart arrows. They carefully and silently put down the three hybrid guards outside Klaus’ manor. Stefan and Damon ran into the manor first with the archers in tow, snapping the necks of five more hybrids. “Go!” Stefan commanded, ushering Damon and Elena up the stairs as the hybrids started to come to and five more joined them.

Nova tried desperately to stop practically drowning in the blood but it was everywhere. Her victims’ pleas haunted her; Klaus’ laugh taunted her. She sobbed and screamed, falling in the blood. The worst part was that she only wanted to get away because she wanted more. It was like putting an alcoholic in a vodka bath.

 

_“Turn it off!”_

 

_“You shut it off, I shut it off. That’s the deal, right?”_

 

Elena didn’t hesitate with her bow in taking down the two guards by Nova’s room. She ran to the door and found it locked. Damon immediately kicked in the door. The bed was in front of a large window opposite the door where Nova laid. Her dark hair was fanned out on the fluffy pillows, blanket pulled up to her chest. To anyone else she would have looked like she was only sleeping. He made his way over to her, touching her cheek gently.

The brunette bit her lip and looked at her phone. Bonnie still hadn’t texted saying the barrier was clear for them yet. Damon looked at her and she had to shake her head.

Nova gasped when she felt it. _She felt it._ She grit her teeth and forced herself back to her feet, fumbling through the pool of blood. She could still feel Klaus’ claws in her, yelling at her to shut it off. She clawed at what could have been some kind of wall and kicked through the blood and bodies. She found that the ‘wall’ was made of stone. Light started to illuminate her prison; she was in the Vasile castle in Bucharest. The bodies of her slain parents still rot in their thrones.

She stared at them emotionlessly. Her small, silver crown sat on her throne between them. It still shined like time hadn’t touched it. Blood covered the floor and dripped down the stone walls. Bodies of her victims appeared slain in the blood.

 

_“You will do exactly as I say when I say it. You will not run, you will not hide, you will simply just obey.”_

 

_“You really don’t like to listen to people, do you?”_

 

Stefan ran up the stairs and snapped the neck of the hybrids as they woke up. “Anything from Bonnie?” He asked quickly.

Elena still had to shake her head, her ponytail swinging side to side. “I don’t know what’s going on…”

Damon had already picked up Nova into his arms. Even dead weight she still didn’t weight much. His eyes never left the girl in his arms. “She’ll get it. Just hang on.”

“And if Klaus randomly comes home because his hybrids alerted him?” came Alaric.

“Bonnie’s got Thea,” he murmured, smoothing down Nova’s hair. “They’ll do it.”

“Damon,” his brother urged, “what if they can’t or don’t?”

“Lethia won’t let that happen,” he laughed a little darkly.

They were grabbing at her ankles as they clung to their last bits of life. Nova kicked each one heartlessly, scraping and clawing to her throne. She cursed when she felt a burning pain in the crook of her neck. Her own blood started to drip from the haunting scars of Stefan attacking her. She ignored it and forced herself on. When she neared the raised platform the thrones were on she grabbed around, yanking at her parents’ ankles and pulling them into the bloody pit.

 

_“Turn. It. Off.”_

 

_“They all think we’re monsters. And you know what? They’re right.”_

 

“It worked!” Elena exclaimed. “The spell is down; let’s go!”

Nova’s hand hit her throne. Blood dripped off onto the platform, echoing through the dark, empty castle. She pulled herself to her feet and, with blood dripping hands, gently picked up her crown.

Alaric and Elena ran down first, vervain darting the hybrids again. Stefan backed up Damon as they ran outside with Nova in his arms. Stefan jumped to the driver’s seat while Damon slid in the back with the ravenette; Alaric and Elena got into another car. The tires skidded away from Klaus’ manor hurriedly.

The small crown touched Nova’s blood caked dark hair and she turned, sitting in the throne. Her eyes weren’t entirely vacant, but the light had been consumed by a crimson darkness.

 

_“We’re better like this.”_


	8. I Scream God Forgive Me Please.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nova awakes and begins the questioning of her humanity & a sweet moment between her and Damon~

08: I Scream God Forgive Me Please.

 

Rebekah was sobbing. She found her way to the room at the end of the hall Nova had been stashed away in, locking the door behind her. She sniffled and kicked off her expensive shoes, curling up to Nova’s unconscious form like a big sister. She took the girl’s hand and cried. “Nik killed her,” she sobbed, hoping Nova could at least her. “Our mum, he killed her and never told us…” She took a large breath, trying not to sob again. “And you! How could you just lay here? Have you any idea even what’s been happening? Bloody ghosts traipsing all over town, woman! Mason Lockwood came back to haunt your darling Damon, you know.”

She sighed and huffed, wiping her face with her sleeves. “I know beauty sleep isn’t an option when you’ve seen decades upon decades but you need to wake up, Nova.” She brushed Nova’s dark hair out of her pale face. “If anyone can beat Nik at his own game it’s you.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


“So,” Stefan started carefully as he and Damon walked up to the boarding house, “you and Nova, huh?” Damon scoffed, brushing him off. “I’m serious, man. We all heard what happened in Chicago - what Nova said. You’re just going to play it off like it never happened?”

“When she wants to wake up and talk about it she will.”

“What if when she wakes up she’s compelled, Damon? Her love for you could be the only thing to bring her back.”

“Nova Vasile cannot be compelled or forced to do anything. Not even by Klaus.”

“How sure are you of that…?”

Damon pushed him against a wall, visibly irritated. “I’d put my life on it, okay? I couldn’t get into her head because she clearly does not want me to see whatever shit show is going on in there. She’ll wake up and we’ll kill Klaus. Or we’ll kill Klaus and she’ll wake up, problem solved! We are not handing her over to him so he can suck whatever is left of the Vasile name from her. She’s stronger than he is.”

“Careful brother,” Stefan smiled a little, “your humanity is showing.”

He rolled his eyes and opened the door (a new one, since Klaus kicked down the previous). The scent of New York style cheesecake bombarded their noses, music blaring from the speakers. They looked at one another and crept down the hall silently. As they got closer to the kitchen they could hear singing.

“ _I'm gonna lift you up into the light you deserve; I'm gonna take you down to the real world so you can watch it burn!_ ” The oven door slammed and a mess of black hair jumped up from behind the island. “ _Don't you dare surrender; Don't leave me here without you. 'Cause I would never replace your perfect imperfection!_ ”

Damon was frozen in his spot with Stefan beside him, jaw dropped. It was like all the air had been vacuumed from his lungs. She turned, still singing, and put the fresh cheesecake on an oven mit on the island. Her hair spun when she turned, emerald eyes immediately meeting his ice blue. Her lips pulled slowly into a wide grin, fangs peeking out like they usually would. She stepped out from behind the island and in a split second Damon was across the kitchen with the petite girl tightly in his arms. She laughed when he spun them around, her feet high off of the floor. Stefan did not move from his spot, still staring with astonishment.

“I was beginning to worry I’d never hear you sing again,” he murmured into her hair as he carefully set her down.

Nova laughed and tamed his mess of black hair, wiping some dirt off of his cheek. “I’ve got centuries of singing left in me,  _ iubițel _ . You, though; you sir look like you’ve been playing in dirt. What-what is this? Hm? Versace? And it’s torn and filthy! What’s gotten into you?”

He laughed and ruffled her hair, earning a punch to the side. “Calm down, mom.” He rolled his eyes. “I’ve been running through caverns under the Lockwood property with Ric. We got Mikael.”

Her eyes widened. “Bullshit!”

“I shit you not,” he smirked. “Plan's in motion. See, I told you I had it. Go ahead. Kick, yell, scream. Bitch about being a damsel in distress.”

He nearly fell over when she stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. She smiled up at him. “I’m not mad. Let’s take down the bastard.” She touched his face and walked over to the island, pulling a bottle of whisky and cups from the cabinet. She poured each of them a glass and cut the cheesecake. Damon sat first at the bar stool by the island; Stefan was hesitant to follow. 

“How do you feel, Nova?” Stefan questioned as carefully as he could. “You... you were unconscious for some time.”

Her expression turned solid and unreadable as she served them each a plate of cheesecake. “How does everyone seem to think I should feel, Stefan? Compelled by the Original hybrid?” Stefan flinched. “I remember everything that happened from start to this very second.”

Damon grabbed her hand with a smile and a mouthful of cheesecake. “Ignore him,” he told her, rolling his eyes. He looked to Stefan. “She’s awake now and that’s what matters. Now we get rid of Klaus.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


Stefan rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Your father is dead,” he spoke into the phone tactlessly. He genuinely couldn’t take Klaus’ rambling about Portland anymore.

“What did you say to me?” he spat after silence.

“Oh, my mistake. Not your actual father and not dead. Mikael. Daggered. What do you want me to do with the body? Also, Nova is awake.”

On the other end Klaus was practically losing his mind. “I wish to speak to Nova then.”

The ravenette inwardly groaned as she took the phone. “Hello, Klaus.” She made a face like she wanted to throw up.

He laughed at the other end. She could feel the barf in her mouth. “Well good morning, luv. I have clearly missed a lot since leaving Mystic Falls it seems. Tell me darling, what’s happened to you and Mikael?”

She sighed silently. “Well, surprise surprise, Damon stole me from your manor.” She snickered a little; she could feel his blood boiling. “I finally came to when Mikael was attacking Elena. Instinct kicked in and I got him down. Found he had a dagger and didn’t waste my time in not using it.” She licked her lips and tapped a nail against the phone nervously. If Klaus knew what she assumed he did then there shouldn’t be a question in her statement.

“Incredible.” She relaxed at his compliment. “I need to speak with Rebekah if she’s there, luv.”

Without hesitation Nova handed the phone to the blonde. “Hello, Nik.”

“Rebekah, love. What's this I hear about Mikael's tragic run in with the dagger?”

“It's true. He's finally out of our lives for good. I miss you. I'm miserable here.”

“I’ll be home soon. In the meantime I need for you to get everything ready. Do you understand, sister?”

She looked to Nova with what seemed to be a pained sympathy. “Yes. I’ll see you then, brother.” The call ended and she handed the phone back to Stefan before turning to the ravenette. “I’ll try to give you as much time as I can, but it won’t be much. He’s coming home.” Without another word she fled from the boarding house.

Damon rubbed his face, realizing what Rebekah was referring to. Klaus was coming back to Mystic Falls to see Mikael dead and marry Nova. “Nope,” he spoke loudly. “Over my cold, dessicated corpse. Mikael is going to stake that bastard before he can even imagine you in a wedding dress.”

Nova shrugged as she headed for the stairs. “Nothing matters,” she spoke with her back to them. “Not anymore.”

When her bedroom door closed Stefan turned to his brother as quietly as he could. “How positive are you that her humanity is not off?”

Damon still stared at where she had walked away up the stairs. “I promise you, Stefan, if  _ her _ humanity was off, you wouldn’t be questioning it. You would know. But she’s losing her grip on it.”

  
  


* * *

  
  


[Flashback; New Year’s, 1958]

 

Nova’s ears twitched. She heard someone creeping into the complex as silently as they could. Her hearing had gotten better in the past five years. She had been hanging upside down on her corner couch and flipped over onto her bare feet. Her eyes were huge and almost bloodshot. Her hair fell down to the curve of her back and curved about in messy waves. Her nose twitched; she grabbed an empty whisky bottle and tip-toed silently over about ten bodies towards her front door. She made a face when she stepped in cold blood and wiped her foot on a nearby rug. The clock tower nearby started its midnight chimes.

 

The faintest of steps crept their way towards her apartment. She grinned, twirling the bottle in her hand impatiently, and did a quick line of coke on her kitchen counter. The knob started to turn and she got ready to jump. The only light in the apartment was moonlight and lamps shining in through the living room bow window. As soon as she saw someone step in, Nova pounced. She wrestled with the intruder until they flung one another into the living room window.

 

“Damon!” The ravenette shouted before tackling him again in a hug.

 

Something had changed about her in the past five years, that much Damon could easily see. She was wearing tight, black, leather leggings and a lace back v-neck. Her hair had been recently teased and lost it’s poof, old makeup smeared around her eyes and dried blood on the corners of her lips. He could smell the excessive liquor and pot and the whole place was practically a blood bath. When she sat up, sitting herself on him, and looked down at him, he smirked. 

 

“I vanish for five years and you shut off your humanity? I knew you wouldn’t make it without me.”

 

She rolled her eyes and playfully punched his chest. “I made it up until a few weeks ago. Get bent. You have no room to judge.” She mimicked his smirk. “What was so traumatizing that Damon Salvatore shut it off and still returned to my side?”

 

He touched her face gently. “Nothing you ever need to worry about.”

 

* * *

 

[Present]

 

Nova threw herself onto Damon’s bed at the boarding house. She wanted nothing more than to shower but the bed and scent of her best friend comforted her more. She felt disgusted at the thought of marrying Klaus Mikaelson. She longed to set fire to that stupid, obnoxious manor. She didn’t hear Damon enter the room, standing in the doorway.

He sat on the edge of the bed, rubbing her back gently. “That horrible?”

“Worse,” she shouted into the pillow. With a groan she sat up and ran her hands through her hair. “I’m quite certain the filthy dress has stolen fabric from poor countries and made them fabricless.” He started to laugh and she punched him. “It’s not funny! There’s an obscene amount of fabric for one dress! All day it was measuring every nook and curve, pulling things over my head repeatedly, and being covered in damn glitter. She finally decided on this monstrosity by I think Vera Wang.” She groaned again and fell back on the pillows. “Stupid thing shows so much of my chest it’s like Rebekah is trying to piss off her brother.” Her hand touched the side of her neck, ghosting over two small scars right over her carotid artery from when she was still human.

Damon put his hand over hers, smiling lightly; he’d accidentally marked her the night he turned. She was right, surely Klaus wouldn’t take too kindly to that. His smile slipped into a smirk. “He’ll probably like that tattoo on your right ‘ _ thigh _ ’ even less.” He winked.

Her cheeks turned pink, eyes opening wide. She’d often forget of the tattoo in question - the astrological sign for Gemini but quirked into the shape of a ‘D’ in script with a crow’s feather. She always said it was on her thigh, which technically it was, just her upper thigh. Very close to her ass. Her fist acted quickly and punched him hard in the chest, knocking some wind from his lungs. “Oh bite me!” She shouted with a huff, crossing her arms over her chest as he started to laugh. “You’ve got one too,  _ măgar _ !”

It was true, he did, and he would gladly always admit it. On the back of his right shoulder he had the astrological sign for Leo with a crown on top of it because it looked like a lowercase ‘n’. She swore she only blinked and he was nearly nose to nose. Her heart started to thump faster deep in her chest. She closed her eyes as he gently brushed her hair off her left shoulder, baring her pale neck and the two faint scars. Her breath caught in her throat when she felt his against her skin. The scars were re-pierced and she felt herself fall back. He caught her before she could even slip.

“Damon,” she breathed when he finally looked at her. She could feel two drops of her blood dripping slowly down her chest. She knew where it was headed, that was how it always started. But oh lord she loved the warmth of his chest under her hands.

He smirked against her lips, his hands slipping under the back of her shirt. “So we’ll find a pretty red ‘A’ for you to wear on your wedding dress tomorrow. I’m sure Klaus will get the picture.”

He kissed her and she didn’t fight in the slightest. In fact she’d long since missed his touch. In a flash her jeans were gone. She gasped and shivered when his hand ghosted over her tattoo. She had leaned her head back but her fangs extended quickly without warning and she jolted her head forward, shoving him backwards on the bed. Her cold hand slipped under his shirt; he grit his teeth to keep from shivering to give her the satisfaction. He couldn’t stop a small growl when she dragged her nails down his chest and bit into his throat.


End file.
